What Do Lawyers Do To Process Your Claims

When you find yourself in a predicament resulting in a personal injury, you need to know what to do.  First and foremost make sure you seek the medical attention you need.  Do not delay because if you do, your situation can easily become worse with long lasting medical concerns.  Very often you are dealing with adrenaline and you may experience fear, panic, confusion at first when there is an accident.  But given some time for things to settle down you may find that that twinge in your back is much more serious; that mild soreness in your neck can easily incapacitate you within 24 hours.  Take anything you feel seriously and have it addressed appropriately.

Once things settle down, you need to figure out next steps.  The first step is definitely to start looking for a personal injury attorney.  But where do you begin?

Finding an Attorney

Find one with the right sort of know-how

Ask your prospective attorney what their past experience is with the type of accident and scenario that you are having to contend with so that you can get a better match to someone who knows what you have been through and has more of an idea how to get what you need.  LibertyBell Law contract lawyer in Los Angeles can help you with various legal needs.

Referrals are always worth considering

It is often the case in many different cases that a personal recommendation from someone you trust might be the answer.

Look for personal qualities and attributes

Always be mindful of how a potential injury attorney who is pitching for your custom behaves when talking to you and listen carefully to what they say for some good clues as to whether you are going to get along with each other, which does help in a lot of respects.

Some signs to be wary of

If a lawyer is making some eye-watering claims about the amount of compensation they can get you that should be more of a cause for concern rather than excitement.

Prepare yourself for your meeting

Once you have made a shortlist of personal injury lawyers you want to meet in order to discuss your case and agree on a way forward, it is a good idea to write down everything you want to ask them beforehand.

You shouldn’t have to pay to get in front of a lawyer for the first time

It is perfectly understandable that you will have some financial concerns about contacting a lawyer and you might hesitate about arranging an appointment of you think it is going to cost you from the very start.  You should find that most personal injury lawyers will be happy to offer a free initial consultation to discuss the case and decide where to go from there.

Check the paperwork carefully

You will be asked to sign a contract with your lawyer when you decide to engage their services and it is vital that you take the time to read through that agreement in full and check that you agree with the terms and conditions.  If there is anything that you are not happy with, raise those concerns before signing any document.

What Next?

Once you have an attorney they will investigate your claim, your diagnosis and your medical treatment.  They will want to know anything and everything you can tell them then they will get all the documentation they can to help your case such as medical bills, physician’s reports etc…  With all of this the attorney will determine if your case is able to move forward.  Let’s assume it is able to move forward…

If you have a small case it is likely to never make it to court.  Your attorney will work on getting you a settlement.  Larger cases or those that may have resulted in a permanent injury will have a lawsuit filed.  Preferably the attorney will seek to have the case heard once you have reached maximum medical improvement which is basically – this is the best you can expect to get as far as recovery.

There will be a discovery process to learn what they can from the other side then possibly mediation and/or negotiation.

And then…

Trial – plan for a day, days, week…  It can always be delayed, postponed, shortened etc…

This process can take years.  It isn’t a quick process but you will want it to be done properly and Attorney Patrick A. Salvi II can help provide some guidance.