A free case evaluation may be considered the first step to begin the legal process after you have suffered a personal injury. You should not just blindly hire an attorney, but you should take steps to learn more about them before you choose to trust them with one of the most important things you may do in your life. Once you have scheduled the free initial consultation, there are certain things that you should do to prepare for your meeting. If you cannot make these preparations on your own because of your physical injuries, you should have a family member or friend assist you.
It is important to be prepared for your free case evaluation with the personal injury attorney. The more information you can provide, the better they can determine if they can help you. Once you hire the attorney, they will handle all the day-to-day details for you, as they fight for compensation on your behalf. Still, for the free case evaluation to effectively serve your purposes, there are things that you need to do to prepare, and ways that you can help your personal injury lawyer hit the ground running.
Not only is the initial consultation free, but you do not need to pay a personal injury lawyer anything until they win your case. The legal system gives you this incentive to get the legal help you need, making it less burdensome financially for you to afford a personal injury lawyer. If you do not win your case, you do not need to pay your lawyer any money. If you do not choose to hire the personal injury lawyer after the free consultation, you do not need to pay them for the case evaluation.
Evidence About Your Accident
Hopefully, you were able to obtain evidence at the scene of your accident that can help you take the first steps toward proving negligence in your case. These could include pictures from the scene of the accident, or any information from witnesses who saw what happened (including a transcription of their recollection and their contact information). It is important that you keep this in a safe place, make copies, and be ready to hand it over to the attorney.
A personal injury lawyer will also need to know who you think was responsible for the accident, and their information. You may already have insurance information from the responsible party, including the name of the insurance. If not, the personal injury attorney will work to figure out who the insurance company is and what type of coverage is available to pay for your injuries.
Documentation of Your Damages
A personal injury lawyer will need to determine how much you are due in compensation based on the unique factors and details of your case. Your personal injury compensation depends on your damages and how you have suffered. Therefore, your personal injury lawyer will want to gain an understanding of your specific situation before they can file a claim, or even give you any idea of how much you may be due in an accident.
If you have any information about your damages, make sure to bring that to the initial consultation. You may have already received some medical records that describe the initial stages of your treatment. While you may not yet have reached the point of maximum medical improvement, your attorney will still learn more about your condition and understand whether they need to consult with expert witnesses to understand even more.
Your attorney will need some information when they begin working on your claim. While they may be unable to give you an immediate estimate of your damages, it will be helpful for them to know about your income information and how much time you have had to miss from work. If there is anything else that can assist an attorney as they begin to learn how much you may be due, you should bring it to the initial consultation. If you decide to hire a lawyer, you can leave the information with them so they can get to work on estimating the amount that you should seek in your claim.
A List of Questions
When you schedule a free case evaluation with a personal injury attorney, you will need to learn more about them before you make the critical decision of hiring them to represent you. It is vital to understand that this is an attorney that you want to work with because you are placing a great degree of trust in them. You gain that trust by coming to understand how your personal injury lawyer will represent you and what they may do for your case.
The first thing that you need to ask about is your lawyer’s experience. Not every lawyer can handle every type of case. While this is not a knock on the individual attorney, some lawyers are better suited for certain types of cases. For example, a certain personal injury attorney may handle larger amounts of smaller car accident cases. If you have suffered serious injuries in a truck accident that can be worth a considerable amount of money, this attorney may not be the best match for you.
Further, you also want to learn how you relate to the individual personal injury lawyer. They will handle critical tasks in your case requiring you to trust them at all times. You can be questioned by the insurance company’s attorney in a deposition, or they may cross-examine you at trial. You need to know that your personal injury attorney is up to the job of defending you from tough questioning.
In addition, you also need to ask questions that get a sense of the type of service that a personal injury attorney may provide you throughout your case. You are dealing with very difficult circumstances that will subject you to a considerable amount of stress. There may be times when you need to speak with your personal injury lawyer during your case. It is vital to know there is someone on the other end who will either pick up the phone or return your call. You should at least know how your case will be handled and who will be the point of contact for you when you need answers.
You should also bring questions about your case itself. One of the main goals of an initial consultation is to understand the legal process and how it relates to your specific case. A personal injury lawyer may not be able to give you definite answers until they can review the facts and evidence, but you will at least get a sense of how they may view your case.
The Willingness to Make a Decision
Although you do not have to sign a representation agreement with your lawyer on the spot, you should make a decision about who will represent you sooner rather than later. The legal process does not necessarily wait for you to begin when you can. The responsible party’s insurance company may realize that they have a problem on their hands, and they may go into overdrive to gain an advantage over you in the coming claims process.
In addition, you may lose valuable evidence vital for establishing that someone else was negligent. A personal injury lawyer can investigate and collect the evidence in a short amount of time before it is lost to you forever.
You may decide it is in your interest to speak with multiple personal injury lawyers to get the best sense of who is right for your case. This is certainly something that is easy to do because you do not need to pay anything for an initial consultation. Still, if you find an attorney who you mesh with and trust, you should be ready to make the decision that they are the right lawyer for you.
What You Do Not Have to Bring to a Free Case Evaluation
The one thing you do not have to bring with you to a free consultation with your personal injury lawyer is a checkbook. When you hire other types of lawyers, they will expect you to pay them a retainer upfront, so they bill against it when you spend time on your case. They will send you hourly bills for their time and services. Eventually, when the retainer runs out, you will need to write them another check.
When you hire a personal injury attorney, you need to do no such thing. The only thing you will need to bring to your free initial consultation in this regard is a pen to sign a representation agreement. This agreement will formalize your personal injury lawyer’s representation of you on a contingency basis.
The contingency system means that your personal injury attorney is paid, if and when you win your case. The contingency here is that you will receive a settlement that pays you money or a monetary award from the jury. Then, your personal injury lawyer will receive a percentage of the money you receive in your case, with nothing coming directly out of your pocket.
The legal system wants you to get the help you need from a personal injury attorney. There is an understanding that you do not have an unlimited amount of money to pay an attorney, or even any money at all. Thus, you do not have to make any financial sacrifices to your already limited funds to get vigorous and determined legal representation.
If you do not win your case, you do not have to pay any money to your personal injury attorney. All the time that they have spent on your case will go uncompensated. A personal injury lawyer takes a risk when they accept your case, so they will also want to learn more about the strength of your claim before they agree to represent you. Regardless, money is never going to be a worry of yours when you need legal help.
When Should I Schedule a FREE Initial Consultation?
You do not have time to waste when it comes to hiring a personal injury lawyer. While the statute of limitations is not as much of a concern in the early days of your case, ending up at a disadvantage with the insurance company and delaying the legal process is not in your best interest. It takes a personal injury lawyer some time to perform an investigation and prepare the claim or lawsuit they will file on your behalf. A lawyer needs some time to do their work to put you in a position to file a claim.
Scheduling a free initial evaluation does not put you under any obligation whatsoever to use that lawyer’s services. While the hope is that you will find the right attorney to work with, it's best to take your time to hire the personal injury lawyer that best suits your needs and you are comfortable with. Consider it like a first date, where you are free to go your own separate way after the conversation if it is not a mutual match.
You do not even have to go into the lawyer’s office for an initial consultation. A personal injury lawyer can even come to you to have the conversation, even if you are in the hospital. Some personal injury lawyers may have the meeting virtually, so you can still see each other face-to-face, and nobody has to travel any distance.
Call for Your FREE Case Evaluation Today
All you need to do is ask questions and provide an attorney with information. The experienced injury attorney will do the rest of the work, making it easy to have a FREE case evaluation with a personal injury lawyer. If you have not already made the call to schedule a FREE case evaluation, now is the time to do so.
Remember, when it comes to legal matters, knowledge is power. That's why it's important to take advantage of a FREE case evaluation with a personal injury attorney in your area. Don’t delay, call today.
Steve Fields
Founder | CEO | Principal | Attorney
Steve Fields founded Fields Law in 2001 and quickly established a reputation with his Personal Injury clients for being a lawyer who truly cares. After more than 20 years, those clients continue to refer their friends and family whenever they have been injured or become disabled.
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