EBOOK HEREThere are all types of lawyers. They specialize in all different things, from corporate to environmental law to being a work injury attorney.
There are also different reasons why an individual might get into the legal profession. Some want to do it so they can defend society’s downtrodden classes. Some want to get rich, and certain lawyers do make a great deal of money.
If you suffer a serious work injury, that’s a time when you may need a lawyer on your side. However, you don’t want to come up with a list of attorneys near you and pick a name at random. You should research lawyers thoroughly to determine whether they’ll be the right fit for you.
Here are five vital work injury attorney characteristics you should never overlook.
You Want an Empathetic Individual
Before injuring yourself at work, you might not realize how often it happens. Over all occupations and industries, there are over 7 million work injuries per year, on average. They can occur in fields like:
- Farming and agriculture
- Construction
- The retail industry
- Military
You may go to work one morning happy and ready for another day. The next thing you know, an injury blindsides you, and it may change your life forever.
If you need a lawyer to go after the individual or entity responsible, they need to appreciate that you’re probably going through one of the most challenging times in your life. You’re suffering, and you can’t just resume your day-to-day existence. That’s the whole lawsuit point: you can’t return to business as usual because of the injury extent.
Your lawyer can be the figurative shoulder on which you cry during this time. Your family members should support you as you go through this process, but you’ll be spending plenty of time with your lawyer as well.
If they are cold and unfeeling, you might not feel like they’re entirely on your side. A lawyer should not be robotic in their dealings with you. They should regard you as a human being and acknowledge your current difficulties.
They Need to Be Ferocious
You also are not going to want a personal injury lawyer who doesn’t know how to speak up for you, either in court or outside of it. You might sue:
- A company
- A single person
Regardless of who you target, they are more than likely going to have lawyers on their side as well. Your lawyer and theirs are going to tangle, and you want someone formidable representing you.
Let’s say you’re suing your company because of unsafe conditions that caused a slip-and-fall. You broke your leg, and now you want to take them to court since their worker’s comp insurance did not sufficiently cover your medical expenses.
Your company’s lawyer or legal team might try to bully you into accepting a token monetary compensation package. Your lawyer can tell them what they’re offering is not sufficient, and they can adamantly refuse if they know the opposing counsel is trying to give you a low-ball offer.
They can encourage you to continue and take the lawsuit to trial. You don’t need a shrinking flower who will wilt when the opposition applies pressure. That’s why it’s a good idea to contact Vaziri Law Group to see what can be done in order to maximize your chances of success.
They Need to Be Personable
You should locate a lawyer who you can speak to with no problems. You might see them every day or multiple times per week for quite some time before you resolve your lawsuit.
They might be competent, but you still may not get along with them. Some individuals might rub you the wrong way, despite their credentials.
You and your lawyer should be on pleasant terms. You should be able to tell that they respect you and don’t just view you as a dollar sign.
Some lawyers don’t know how to talk to people like human beings, and you might decide to go with someone else if the first couple of options don’t seem able to converse with you respectfully.
They Must Be Knowledgeable
You also require an attorney who knows what they’re doing. That probably disqualifies someone who is brand-new and just passed the bar the previous week.
You want a lawyer who can cite precedent at trial without a moment’s hesitation when they need to. You also want someone who can immediately tell you whether a settlement offer makes sense or whether the opposing counsel is trying to pull a fast one on you.
You should talk to the lawyer you are considering before you hire them about similar cases to yours that they have handled and what the outcomes were. If they do not specialize in work injury cases, or they have never argued in front of a judge or jury before, you can probably rule them out. You want to feel like your future is in the best possible hands.
You Want a Lawyer with the Proper Connections
Your lawyer represents you in court, but they also need to have a team working behind the scenes on your behalf. You want a lawyer or law firm with skilled investigators who can look into your event version if the opposing counsel disputes it. Your company might deny that things happened like you said, or they may try to disparage you in some way.
If your two lawyer options are a single individual or a larger firm, you might go with the larger firm if they have better investigators and experts upon whom they can call for testimony. However, bear in mind that the larger firm could take more of your winnings if you do come out on top.
You need to carefully select a work injury attorney or law firm since there is probably a lot of money on the line. The outcome is not just financial, though.
You might want the money to pay for your hospital bills, physical therapy bills, medication, etc., but you also want to win because that holds the individual or business entity who harmed you accountable for your health and safety. You will probably take just as much satisfaction from that as you will from your winnings.