One of the worst things that somebody can think of happening to them is being in a fatal car accident. Unfortunately, in 2020, there were over 54,000 vehicles involved in a deadly car crash.
Sometimes, one driver does not have car insurance or insurance that can cover all of the injuries and damages. This is when you need to start considering hiring a car accident lawyer. How do you find a good car accident lawyer? What are your options for lawyers?
This is your car accident attorney guide.
1. A Car Accident Lawyer in Your Area
One way to improve your chances of success with a lawyer is if you hire one in the location where the accident took place. This is most likely where a potential trial will take place, and your lawyer would have a much higher chance of knowing the local roads where your car accident happened.
Not only would travel and road knowledge benefits you and your lawyer but so would the people that they know in the area. Examples of this include judges, prosecutors, and even certain policemen that could be useful for your potential trial.
If you decide to go with a lawyer from out of town, you could risk them wasting time having to get to know the area and the local people in it rather than getting straight to work on your case. So, in your situation, you are going to want to find a lawyer that works in the Anaheim area.
2. An Experienced Car Accident Lawyer
The next thing that you need to consider is what type of experience and success your potential lawyer has. Ideally, you are going to want a lawyer that has handled several car accident cases like yours in the past.
An example of what not to do would be to hire one that deals with DUI cases as their main specialty rather than someone in a car accident.
Make sure that your lawyer has the right history of cases before agreeing to hire them.
3. A Successful Lawyer
While having an experienced lawyer is important, you need to go a step further than that and find a lawyer with successful experience.
Let’s say that you are deciding between two lawyers. One lawyer has had 50 cases like yours, but the other one has only had 30.
While the first one may seem impressive, that lawyer may have only won 20 cases, while the second lawyer may have won 27 out of 30 cases. In that situation, you are going to want to hire a lawyer that has a 90% win percentage rather than the one that has not even won 50% of their cases.
Do not be afraid to research and ask potential lawyers how often they have had success with these cases.
4. The Right Price
After you find an experienced and successful lawyer, you cannot forget to factor in how much your lawyer is going to cost. Luckily, with these types of cases, lawyers are likely going to ask you for a contingency fee rather than an hourly rate.
Contingency rates are usually about one-third of the amount of money that gets offered to you, the defendant, as a settlement.
So, you need to ask a lawyer in advance how much of a fee they would want from your case. Some may ask for a higher contingency fee than the above, so you need to determine for yourself if that lawyer is worth the extra money.
5. Having References and Reviews
Next, you need to go through references and reviews that your potential lawyer may have. Some lawyers rely on word of mouth, so your family or your friends may have guided you to them in the first place.
But, let’s just say that your uncle in the area has been through a similar case and won a decent settlement with their car accident lawyer. If you tell him about your situation, he will very likely refer you to the lawyer that helped him get his settlement successfully.
However, if you do not know anybody that can refer a lawyer to you, you do have the option of going online and seeing what kind of reviews are left for the lawyer. You can see if one sticks out with written reviews or see if there is one to clearly eliminate right away.
6. Good Negotiation Skills
Finally, you need to factor in how good of a negotiator you think your lawyer is. This is because, with your type of case, a lawyer is not only going to be negotiating the amount for your settlement but possibly if you get one at all.
Let’s say that the guilty party offers you about $20,000 to settle your case. That may sound like a good offer to you, but a clever and aware lawyer may realize that they could get double the money from that offer.
You are going to want to make sure that you have the lawyer you are most confident you can get the maximum amount of money in a settlement. Also, you want to know that your lawyer will stay strong during negotiations and not back down easily.
Hire a Car Accident Lawyer
These are just some of the things that you need to consider for how to find a good car accident lawyer. Make sure that you find one in your area that is experienced and has good negotiation skills.
Do you want to find a good car accident lawyer? Contact us for a free consultation today.