It is hard to regain your senses after being involved in an accident, but you need to act smart and hire a good attorney to ensure you don’t end up paying unnecessarily for your injuries, especially when you were never at fault. Here are some important tips for choosing an accident attorney.

Prefer Someone with Experience

When it gets confusing to select a personal injury attorney to handle your accident case, you need to pick someone with experience. Only an experienced attorney knows what will help your case and where to get it. They will work with you closely to understand every little detail associated with your case and use it during the settlement process.

Be sure to ask your shortlisted attorney about any experience they have in handling your type of case. Don’t just believe it but ask for references. Check if they have handled similar cases before. Ask about their success rate at the same time. Never forget to confirm if your attorney seems confident to take your case to trial in case you don’t get the desired compensation.

Work with Someone Who Communicates

A good attorney won’t take your case and then handle everything without even involving you in the process. They need to communicate with you every little detail that may have an impact on the outcome of your personal injury case.

If your attorney is not prepared to answer your text or take your calls during the process, it is only going to make you feel frustrated. Yes, attorneys are busy professionals but know that they are busy dealing with cases like yours, so they should be willing to communicate like a professional.

Hire Someone Who Handles Insurance Companies Well

It is not possible for every accident attorney to deal with insurance companies in the right way. Only an experienced professional is capable of playing hardball with insurance providers.  Know that those companies would do whatever they can to leave you with as little as possible. It’s your attorney’s duty to work with them and arrange the maximum compensation for your accident and injuries.

Your attorney will also help you decide if what you’re getting is reasonable compensation for your type of accident or you should get more. So, be sure to take your time and check the reputation of your attorney and ensure that they are known for pressing insurance companies properly for better compensation.

Pick Your Attorney to Represent You in the Court

Again, it is related to the experience of an attorney. Of course, there is no need to stretch a case if you can an out-of-court settlement works well for you. However, sometimes, insurance companies would not be offering a reasonable settlement and that’s when your attorney needs to take them to the court.

Understand that insurance companies would save whatever they can, and they will play aggressively and drastically lower the amount of compensation once they know your attorney has no trial experience. Therefore, it is important to avoid working with someone who is a ‘specialist’ personal injury attorney but has ‘never’ seen the inside of a courtroom.

By Chakraborty

Dr Chakrabarty is the Chief Innovation Officer of IntuiComp TeraScience. Earlier she was Assistant Professor of Delhi University, a QS ranked university in India. Before that she has held research positions in IIT Mumbai, IIT Chennai and IISc Bangalore. She holds 2 patents and over 20 research publications in her name which are highly cited. Her area of research is in smart technologies, integrated devices and communications. She also has a penchant for blogging and is an editor of Business Fundas.