What Your Personal Injury Lawyer Might Not Tell You

Introduction

If you’re a plaintiff in a personal injury case or planning to file an injury claim, one of the first orders of business is to find an experienced attorney in your area. A skilled injury lawyer will understand the law, how to apply it to your particular situation, and the nuances of civil court procedure. It’s their job to represent your interests, but attorneys have their own interests and motivations that don’t always align with those of their clients.

That’s why it’s crucial for plaintiffs to be armed with the right information before embarking on an injury case. The following are 10 important considerations your attorney may not tell you.

Attorney’s fees are not set in stone

When you meet with prospective attorneys, they will provide their fee schedule and the terms of the relationship. But these fees are generally negotiable. While there’s plenty of truth to the statement that you get what you pay for—and an excessively cheap personal injury lawyer should raise suspicions about their ultimate value—you should feel comfortable negotiating with an attorney to arrive at fees that work for both of you. It helps to have a general sense of the attorney’s track record and reputation before your first meeting.

The attorney you call is not necessarily the attorney you’ll get

Some law firms make their presence known across a wide swath of media—including billboards, television commercials, radio spots, online banner ads, and even the sides of buses. They often feature the image and voice of a supposed attorney, enticing prospective clients to call them for expert legal assistance. But these are often just attorney referral services that make their money by farming you out to various law firms that have paid for leads. The firms that pay for these leads may be perfectly legitimate, professional operations—but their connection to the referral service is typically just a transactional one.

The attorney you first meet with may never handle your case

Like any business, law firms know the importance of making a strong first impression on clients. Therefore, initial consultations are often handled by senior-level attorneys at the firm. They will listen to your case and take careful notes, perhaps even suggesting a general course of action. But keep in mind that firms employ paralegals, legal secretaries, and even non-attorney case managers for much of the heavy lifting. That doesn’t mean your case won’t be handled professionally, but the attorney whose hand you shake at that first meeting may not be personally involved in your case once you leave their office.

You may not even need an attorney (although you will for lawsuit funding)

You’re not an attorney, which is why you’re seeking professional guidance for your personal injury claim. But if your injuries are minor, your damages are well-documented, and the other party’s insurer is willing to cooperate, an attorney may not be able to do much for you. Even if they know their services are not necessary, unscrupulous attorneys may see it as an opportunity for easy money. However, paying attorney fees when you don’t need to can take a bite out of your award.

Many small firms don’t have the financial resources for important upfront costs

To successfully represent their clients, injury attorneys often pay for private investigators, forensic experts, and other specialists who can make the difference in whether you win or lose your case. While a successful case may require more upfront costs—for which you would be charged—failing to take on some of these costs could mean you don’t collect at all. It’s important to find an attorney with the necessary resources to help your case prevail.

Firms may not want you to search for online reviews

In today’s world, one of the best ways to find a quality service provider, whether it’s a plumber or an injury attorney, is to search for online reviews on sites such as Yelp. While some former clients who lost their cases may be too quick to criticize the firm that represented them, you can get a general sense of a law firm’s track record by reading reviews. Keep in mind that reviews posted on a firm’s website may have been hand-selected for marketing purposes.

They may decline your case because it’s not lucrative, not because it lacks merit

If a prospective injury law firm declines to take on your case after your initial consultation, they may not be upfront about why. They may be vague in their reasoning or say it doesn’t look like a good case. However, it’s important to understand that even a slam-dunk personal injury case may not be worth their time if it won’t offer a lucrative enough payout for the firm.

Firms may claim they can secure unrealistically large settlements to get your business

In some instances, this may be true—an attorney may have special expertise handling cases such as yours and know how to secure a particularly large settlement on your behalf. However, whatever settlement they help you obtain is separate from the fee they will charge. In other words, an attorney making bold claims about large settlements may simply be trying to outbid other firms. Of course, they won’t put such claims in writing because it is often unclear how a case will play out in the end.

Attorneys won’t necessarily tell you about legal funding

After an attorney takes your case and you’ve settled on the fee structure, they’ll want to know how you plan to pay for their services. Some firms don’t collect until they win your case (and won’t charge fees if they don’t). But they may not voluntarily inform you about lawsuit loans, given the shady reputation some of these companies have. For instance, some charge compound interest, which is essentially interest charged on previously accrued interest (rather than charging interest on the principal only, known as “simple interest”). This can result in obscenely high rates that cut deeply into your lawsuit settlement.

Uplift Legal Funding charges its clients simple interest rates and will match or beat a funding contract from any competitor. What’s more, you don’t have to repay your loan if you don’t prevail in your case.

Personal injury lawyers may refer you to their preferred lawsuit loan provider rather than encouraging you to shop around

Personal injury law firms sometimes have an existing relationship with a lawsuit loan provider and will refer their clients to that specific company; in fact, most lawsuit lenders focus on forming relationships with law firms rather than individual plaintiffs. The attorney will probably extol the virtues of this preferred lender—and it very well may be an industry leader—but you just never know. You don’t have to go with their lender, and you have every reason to shop around. You want a lender with relatively low rates (particularly one charging simple, not compound, interest), keeping in mind the cost of their inherent risk.

Are you a plaintiff in an injury case in need of funds? Depending on the strength of your claim, as determined by correspondence with your attorney, you may be eligible for a no-risk lawsuit loan from Uplift Legal Funding. We provide competitive rates and don’t care about your credit rating; plus, you won’t have to repay your loan unless you win your case.

Give us a call at (800) 385-3660 or apply online today for a better pre-settlement legal funding experience.