Hiring a spinal cord injury lawyer is an important decision—one that can significantly impact your ability to recover compensation and move forward after a serious accident. To make the most informed choice, it helps to prepare a few key questions ahead of your consultation.
Before you hire a Long Island spinal cord injury lawyer, consider what you will ask because the answers can help you determine whether an attorney is the right fit for your case.
In This Article
Reading time: 5 minutes
- How Your Spinal Cord Injury Lawyers Might Handle Your Case
- Past Experience With Spinal Cord Injuries Is Important
- Legal Fees and Your Spinal Cord Injury Case
- How Insurance Companies Impact Your Spine Injury Case
- Questions Your Personal Injury Lawyer Might Have for You
- If My Lawyer Is Unable to Answer My Questions, Should I Avoid Hiring Them?
- Our Spine Injury Attorneys Are Ready to Answer Your Questions
How Your Spinal Cord Injury Lawyers Might Handle Your Case
When you ask about your attorney’s plans for your case, you want to hear an answer that hits the following points:- Every case is unique and requires a tailored approach.
- They will closely investigate your case and come up with a plan that meets your needs and goals.
- They will monitor your case’s progress at every stage, so they will immediately know if something needs their attention or if they need to alter the plan.
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Past Experience With Spinal Cord Injuries Is Important
Not all personal injury cases are the same. For example, depending on how your spinal cord injury happened, your attorney will have to contend with different kinds of insurance companies (e.g., auto insurance versus general liability insurance). It is good to know that your attorney has dealt with circumstances similar to the one you now face. In addition, spinal cord injuries often result in lifelong disability, meaning you cannot do what other accident victims do and wait until you are completely healed to more accurately assess your total damages. This requires your lawyer to calculate your case’s value in other ways.Legal Fees and Your Spinal Cord Injury Case
Our spine injury lawyers work for a contingency fee, which means our clients do not pay us anything unless and until we secure compensation for them. We then deduct an agreed-upon percentage of their settlement or award as our attorneys’ fee. We want you to be fully informed and feel comfortable with your choice of representation. We are happy to discuss how our legal fees work with you.Click to contact our personal injury lawyers today
How Insurance Companies Impact Your Spine Injury Case
There is no meaningful average spinal cord injury settlement, so the insurance company might make an initial settlement offer based on what they want to pay, not what you need based on your losses. They might use any number of tactics to minimize what you receive, including:- Assigning you more blame for the accident than you deserve
- Pressuring you to accept their first offer right away
- Refusing to negotiate for a more appropriate settlement
- Asking for a recorded statement that they will use to undermine your case
- Searching your social media or other public statements for any apparent contradictions
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Questions Your Personal Injury Lawyer Might Have for You
When you hire a legal representative, they take on all of the day-to-day legal tasks required to keep your case going. This does not, however, mean that you will have no part to play in your case. Your lawyer might need several things from you, including:- Your complete story. Share everything you know about the accident and how it has changed your life. Hold nothing back, even if you think the truth is embarrassing or makes you look bad. Your lawyer must know everything to craft the right legal strategy.
- Any evidence in your possession. Did you take photos of the accident scene? Do you have medical bills, emails from the insurer, or other relevant documents in your possession? Provide these to your attorney.
- Important decisions. Always remember that your accident injury lawyer works for you and should not make any big decisions without your input and approval. They should be contacting you throughout your case to keep you informed and to help you make important decisions about your case’s future.
If My Lawyer Is Unable to Answer My Questions, Should I Avoid Hiring Them?
That depends on the question. For example, if your back injury lawyer will not commit to providing regular updates or does not clarify their fee structure, then you should certainly not hire them. However, there are certain questions that a responsible attorney will not pretend to have the answers to so early in your case. For instance, many clients understandably wonder if their case will go to trial. We generally do not know the answer to this question until we have started to investigate the case and communicate with the insurance company. Instead of providing a yes or no answer, we will:- Explain the factors that influence whether a case goes to trial
- Explore the pros and cons of a trial
- Commit to informing you as soon as we believe that a trial might be the right option for you
- Work with you to decide when and if we go to trial
Our Spine Injury Attorneys Are Ready to Answer Your Questions
Friedman & Simon, L.L.P., has spent the past 30-plus years providing aggressive yet compassionate representation to our severely injured clients. If you have questions to ask our spinal cord injury lawyers, call now for a free consultation. Get in touch with us today to learn about your rights.Call or text (516) 932-0400 or complete a Free Case Evaluation form