How To Choose a Personal Injury Compensation Lawyer

Personal injury can happen to anyone of us at any time. An accident could occur at work, driving a car, walking along the street, slipping over in a shopping mall, or any of hundreds of other possible scenarios. Not one of us is immune to potential hazards and danger, and unfortunately, mishaps do occur.

What many people often don’t realise is that you can claim compensation for personal injuries in many instances. While most people are aware of worker’s compensation – where if you’re injured at work you can make a claim – many of us fail to realise we can claim compensation in other scenarios as well.

However, knowing how to go about it and filing a successful claim is not necessarily easy, even if you are aware. That’s where it can really pay to enlist the services of a personal injury compensation lawyer.

In this post, we’ll take a look at a few tips on finding the right lawyer for your case and just how they can be of benefit to you when filing a claim for personal injury.

Seek Out a Law Firm That Specialises In Compensation Claims

To put things bluntly, you’ll want an expert on your side.

Not every lawyer or law firm specialises in, or even necessarily has experience in, personal injury compensation claims.

Some law firms are experts at negotiating divorce settlements. Others might be the right kind to call if you’ve been charged with a crime.

Personal injury compensation and insurance claims are another field of law altogether.

So if you’ve suffered an injury, before you start your search for a lawyer to help you get the compensation you deserve, start off your search by narrowing the field down to firms that are experienced in and specialise in compensation claims. Forget all the others. Start there.

Also, when you find some, do some research and see how long they’ve been in business. Remember, you want someone with hands-on experience, not a lawyer just starting out in their career.

Create a Shortlist and Dig Deeper

Likely you’ve gone online to find some candidates in your local area. Create a shortlist of the ones that sound most viable, then do some further research on them.

Take a good look at their websites, especially their “About” pages. See how many lawyers are on their staff, whether they display any details of cases they’ve won, percentage of successful cases and stats like that.

If you decide you like a particular firm, then do some independent research and see if you can find anyone talking about them online. You might come across a forum post (such as on Whirlpool), where someone was injured and hired the firm to claim compensation.

What was their experience like? Was the claim successful?

It’s this kind of information that will help you make the very best choice.

It’s also a good idea to call up the firm and have a quick chat and ask a few questions. This way you’ll get an idea of what they might be like to deal with before actually booking in for a face to face appointment.

Does the Firm Offer a “No Win No Fee” Guarantee?

Not all personal injury lawyers will offer this kind of guarantee, but many do, so that’s the type of firm you want on your side.

The no win no fee works like this:

If they take your case and lose, you owe them nothing. If they win your case, you pay the nominated fee for their services.

Generally firms that offer the no win no fee guarantee will also offer your initial consultation with them for free as well. It’s during this first meeting that you’ll discuss details of your case and they’ll decide whether they’ll take it on.

The Wrap

If you’ve suffered a personal injury and think you might be able to claim compensation, it really is in your best interests to team up with a lawyer who specialises in personal injury insurance claims. You’ll have far more chance of a successful outcome, as well as a larger compensation payout in most cases.