How to pick a Florida Personal Injury Attorney

If you need a Florida personal injury lawyer, it’s ok to start with advertisements.  You might also begin with recommendations from friends, family or other lawyers. However, before making your final selection there are several factors that you should consider. An excellent Florida personal injury attorney will always have the below characteristics:  

Knowledge of Florida personal injury law

The personal injury laws of every state are different.  In fact the law in one state can often be exactly the opposite of the law in another state.  For this reason, it is very important to select a lawyer that is licensed to practice law in Florida.  This ensures the lawyer has knowledge of Florida law.  It is equally important, however, to select a lawyer that has detailed knowledge of Florida personal injury law.

On the other hand, personal injury law in Florida is pretty much the same throughout the state.  While there are some differences, a good Florida personal injury attorney will know how courts throughout the state handle personal injury matters.  For this reason, a good personal injury lawyer can handle a personal injury case anywhere in the state.  In fact, the best personal injury attorney’s are in such high demand that clients are willing to hire them no matter where they are located in Florida.

Experience in handling personal injury cases

It is not enough to have book smarts.  Knowing the law and actually practicing law are too different things. Like any profession, the longer you do something, the better you get.  The legal experience should be experience as a practicing Florida personal injury lawyer.  Furthermore, the experience should be in all aspects of handling a Florida personal injury case including investigation, negotiation, filing suit, engaging in discovery, taking depositions, attending mediation, settlement, and trial.  If your lawyer has not participated many times in all of these things then they are learning on your case.

Of course a lawyer has to learn somewhere.  And the truth is that younger lawyers can learn some aspects of working up a personal injury case rather quickly.  The key when a younger lawyer is involved in your case is to make sure a senior lawyer is supervising them and handling the more difficult aspects.

Willingness to put the client’s interest ahead of the lawyer’s interest

A lawyer’s job is to put the client’s interest first.  There are many different ways this issue can come up.  For example, selfish lawyers will tell a potential client what they want to hear before the client has hired them.  Their goal is to get the case signed up no matter what.  If that means telling the client their case is worth substantially more than it is really worth they will do so.  Later, when a low settlement offer is made, the same lawyer will come up with some reason why the case has changed and encourage you to take what is offered.

Another example, involves the fact that many lawyers that handle personal injury cases are really just settlement lawyers.  They are running a business.  Their goal is to settle your case as fast as possible. Although a lawsuit should not be filed on every case, sometimes it makes sense to do so.  However, these lawyers never file suit.  Instead they will encourage you to take whatever is offered.  It does not matter to them if they do not get the best recovery possible, as long as they settle your case quickly they can make up the difference on the next case.  You do not want this type of lawyer.

Willingness to take a case to trial when it makes sense to do so

Not every case should go to trial. The truth is that most cases settle.  This can occur for many reasons. Sometimes the chance of winning at trial is so small that it makes sense to take an offer that is substantially lower than what a jury would do if you win.  Sometimes the other side offers the amount a jury would most likely award if you went to trial. On the other hand, some cases simply need to be tried.  Your personal injury lawyer should be able to advise you on the best option for your case.  And when it makes sense to try your Florida personal injury case, your lawyer should be willing to do so.

High quality legal services

Out of all the characteristics you should look for in a Florida personal injury attorney, this one is the hardest for a client to evaluate.  Most of the time a client does not have the experience to determine whether a lawyer is doing a good job.  However, the efficiency by which the lawyer’s office runs is a good clue.  Your lawyer should have systems in place to make sure your case is properly worked up, should willingly answer all your questions, should update you with the progress in your case, and should promptly return phone calls.

Another clue as to whether a lawyer provides high quality legal service involves what other people are saying about the lawyer.  If friends, family, and or former clients are pleased with the attorney’s services, it may be an indication the lawyer does a good job.  Of course the facts and circumstances of each client’s case are different.  Therefore you should not expect the same result.  On the other hand, consistently good results obtained by a Florida personal injury lawyer and the fact the lawyer’s client’s are willing to give testimonials does provide some insight into the quality of the legal services of the lawyer.