We get this question all the time. I’m sure every other plaintiff’s law firm does as well. And it’s a good question. At the end of the day, a plaintiff’s lawyer doesn’t come cheap. Most of the time, you’re going to pay your lawyer 33-40% of the amount your lawyer collects for you. That means, if you’ve got a hundred thousand dollar case, you are going to end up paying your attorney thirty-three to forty thousand dollars. That’s nothing to sneeze at. But it’s also not the entire picture.
When to Hire a Personal Injury Attorney
If you’ve got a small case, with few complications, it might make sense for you to tackle the job on your own. In fact, hiring an attorney under circumstances like that may mean most of your recovery goes to paying fees and paying your attorney back for the costs your attorney paid out to get you a recovery. It might mean you get almost nothing at all. And that’s not what this whole journey is about.
But if you’ve got a bigger case, with significant injuries and maybe even complications with proving who caused those injuries, the calculation becomes much different. Under those circumstances, a lawyer is going to know how to prove that the other guy actually caused your injuries. And a lawyer is going to know how to squeeze the most value out of an insurance adjuster or insurance defense attorney, or if it comes to it, convince a jury of just how much your case is worth. An experienced lawyer knows what a jury might award for the pain associated with a broken femur, or the life disruption caused by a concussion that won’t go away. That’s the knowledge that a stockbroker or a firefighter – people who don’t play in the personal injury sandbox every day – might not have. And if you don’t have that knowledge, an insurance adjuster is going to pay you pennies on the dollars that you are owed.
It’s no secret that insurance adjusters and the attorneys they hire are experts at interrogation and persuasion. With a few artfully-crafted questions, an adjuster can have you believing you caused the crash when the other guy ran a red light. And a good (or even average) lawyer on the other side can convince almost anyone that their pain and suffering claim isn’t worth anything. A good personal injury lawyer acts as a barrier to that kind of nonsense, working to ensure that no one talks you into something that you shouldn’t be talked into. And that will mean more money in your pocket at the end of the day.
And that’s not just a personal injury lawyer telling you that. Even the insurance industry’s own studies (done by the Insurance Research Council) show that plaintiffs who hire personal injury lawyers, on average, receive on average three times and half times more for their cases than folks who go it alone. That means, should that proposition hold true, that you more than double your money at the end of the day by hiring a personal injury lawyer. That’s a good return on an investment.
Contact a Personal Injury Lawyer For Help With Your Case
At a bare minimum, it makes sense to talk with at least one personal injury lawyer before making a decision. Find a lawyer who is trustworthy (look at their reviews, ask friends, don’t just look for a billboard or a television ad), and ask the lawyer whether they can add value to your case. Most lawyers will at least attempt to give you an honest answer to that question. If the answer is yes, and you’ve got a case that’s worth pursuing, it may very well be in your best interest to hire a personal injury lawyer.
