If you are a plaintiff in a personal injury case or you are seeking funding from organizations such as grapeleafcapital.com, one of the greatest concerns you will have after finding an experienced attorney in your field is the legal fees. Your desire will always be to find a skilled injury attorney from www.rhalaw.com who understands the law well, and can apply it to your particular situation and will also help you navigate through all the nuances of the court proceedings. It is upon them to accord you the best legal representation, though they will always have their own motivations and interests which may never be in line with your expectations or even apparent to you.
Here is a look at some of the ten things your personal injury lawyer may never tell you:
The fees are not set on stone
When you hold the first meeting with the prospective personal injury lawyer, one of the agendas will be the fee schedule and the relevant terms for your relationship. But one thing you should always have in mind is that the fees are never set on stone and you are always free to negotiate them.
However, you should be cautious about lawyers willing to give their services at very low rates because sometimes you may end up getting what you pay for. Check their reputation and their track record in dealing with cases similar to yours and ensure there is a correlation between the fees they are willing to accept after you bargain.
The attorney you talk to initially may not be the one to take your case
There are certain law firms with an enviable presence in a wide swath of media – you will notice their ads on billboards, radio stations, online banners, and television commercials. In such places, they will use the image and the voice of a supposedly renowned attorney to make you believe that you will get a fierce representation should you use their services. However, should you go ahead and make contact with the law firm, chances are that you will not be represented by the particular attorney you had seen on the ads or whom you talked with on the phone. This is because such are lead generations firms, and though they may be legitimate and professionals in their operations, they may not be the ones to take up the cases, since theirs is nothing but a referral service.
It may not be necessary to have an attorney
You are seeking the services of an attorney because you need the right presentation and you are not an attorney. However, not all time is this necessary. For example, when the injuries you sustained are severe and all the damages are well documented and the defendant’s insurance company is willing to cooperate with the settlement, then an attorney may not have a lot of work under such circumstances. Even if you are perfectly aware that you don’t need their services, some may tempt to come in so that they can make some good money and sometimes the fees may eat into a good portion of the settlement.
Small firms usually lack financial resources for vital upfront costs
Sometimes it is necessary for injury attorneys to pay for the services of private investigators, and other specialists such as forensic experts so that they can build a watertight case that will help you win the maximum possible settlement. In as much as a successful case may require a substantial amount of money in upfront costs, failing to incur some of these costs may jeopardize the chances of success of that case. Most of the small law firms you may approach may not have the financial muscles to incur such costs and this will hinder their chances of winning the case. This is why it is imperative to work with a well-established law firm that has the necessary resources to win the case, even if it means they will be going for legal funding.
Most law firms will not want you to check them out using online reviews
With the advent of the internet and social media, one of the ways consumers find quality products and services is through checking out reviews by past clients, and the legal profession is not an exemption. In this field, former clients who lost cases may be quick to criticize, but if you continue to read through the reviews, you will get a general sense of whether or not the firm has the reputation you need for legal representation. However, most firms will not want to associate with the negative reviews, and if you decide to read only the reviews posted on their websites, you are likely to get a misleading image since such reviews are usually handpicked for marketing purposes.
Your case may be declined because it is not lucrative
In some instances, a prospective law firm may decline your case after the initial consultation and they may not be in a position to give you a solid reason why they are not interested. In most cases, they are rejecting the case not because it lacks merit and you have slim chances of winning, but simply because they don’t think it is lucrative enough. Though the attorneys may desire to help you get a settlement, they are also in for business and if they think their share of the settlement is not worth their efforts, then they will simply turn down the case and give some vague reasons.
Most attorneys will not tell you about legal funding
After a personal injury lawyer takes your case and you agree on the fee structure, their immediate concern will be for you to tell them how you intend to meet their fees for their legal services. Some will not take a dime until the case is won and settled and if they lose then they don’t charge any fees. But most of them will never tell you about lawsuit loans and how you can use them in various instances. This is because there is a lot of bad talk revolving around the loans, especially when it comes to the rates since some come with very high interest rates.