It can sometimes seem like there’s an ad for a personal injury lawyer offering to help you with an accident or incident everywhere you look. As you don’t require their services at that time, you likely won’t find out what they can do for you or how they even operate.
However, having a fundamental knowledge of a personal injury lawyer can be important. If you should ever require their services, you’ll understand how they can help. With that in mind, you can learn a few important details about personal injury lawyers in the article below.
Their Services Are Wide-Ranging
Visit the website of any personal injury lawyer, and you’ll likely be surprised by how many services they can offer. Personal injury is simply the umbrella term for a broad range of injuries and incidents they can assist with. Car accident assistance is undoubtedly the most common service they offer based on how prevalent car accidents are in the United States. However, you can also rely on them for dog bites, elder abuse, wrongful death, medical malpractice, and more.
You Don’t Have to Pay Them
Most personal injury lawyers advertise contingency fees. Unless you ask what these are, you may not know. A contingency fee structure means you don’t need to pay for your lawyer’s time unless your case reaches a successful conclusion.
While there can be some additional costs like administration and expert witnesses, you won’t pay a dime toward their hourly rates. Instead, they take a percentage of your recovery amount. Typically, this is between 20% to 50%.
Not All Personal Injury Lawyers Are Reputable
The sad reality is that not all personal injury lawyers are reputable. Some will push for an early settlement to ensure they’re paid quickly, even if it’s not in your best interest. Others will be hard to communicate with and show no empathy.
Fortunately, there are ways to identify the most reputable personal injury lawyers. They usually have excellent online reviews, professionally designed websites, and plenty of examples of their successes. You can also meet with most personal injury lawyers for a free case review to see if you ‘gel’ with them before hiring them.
They Can Go to Trial
You might hear about people settling out of court and receiving compensation for accidents that weren’t their fault. Many personal injury cases are successfully concluded outside of court. However, that’s not everyone’s experience. Personal injury lawyers might be experts at negotiating out of the courtroom, but some of the best are also prepared to take your case to trial. Often, this happens when negotiations and mediation fail. At this point, they can prepare you for a court case and fight for the compensation you’re owed.
They Can Handle Everything for You
Recovering from accident-related injuries can require a great deal of energy. You might then have very little left to enter discussions with insurance companies to receive compensation. When you hire a personal injury lawyer, you can focus on your recovery. They negotiate on your behalf and handle all communications for you.
You might not know everything about personal injury lawyers, but a basic understanding can be helpful. Retain these facts above, and you might feel more confident if you ever require a lawyer’s services in the future.
