If you find yourself in a situation where you need to hire a lawyer, you probably are not very excited about it. Lawyers can be expensive and hard to find. If you’ve never had to hire a lawyer before, be it a worker compensation lawyer or family attorney, you might find yourself feeling a little overwhelmed at the prospect. The first thing you need to know is that before you make a choice on which lawyer to hire, you will be able to have a free consultation with whichever firm you are considering using. This free consultation should be viewed as an interview. There are a lot of choices when it comes to attorneys and lawyers so here are a few things that you can look for when you are interviewing lawyers.
A Listening Ear
During this first interview, you will lay out the details of your case to find out if you even have a case, first of all, and second, if this is something the lawyer can help with. For example, if you have a workers compensation case, then you will see a worker compensation lawyer who will have prior experience in the field. They’ll be able to let you know if your case will stand up in court. However, the problem comes when all the lawyer wants to do is talk. They should offer a very quiet, thoughtful, listening ear as you are explaining your situation. In order to be able to get all the details, you want a lawyer that can listen. Otherwise, you may find yourself with a surprised lawyer in court when the opposing party comes up with information that your lawyer did not hear you tell them.
A Direct Contact
Don’t settle for a lawyer that will only give you their assistant’s phone number or 1800 number to their firm. While you can’t expect a home phone number or cell phone for your lawyer, they should be willing to give you their direct email address and extension to their office phone. During that first interview with your worker compensation lawyer, ask how you can contact them and if they tell you that they will contact you, move on. A lawyer should be available and willing to directly communicate with you at any time. If you come across new information, you are going to need to be able to get that to your lawyer but if they are not willing to talk to you whenever you need to, they miss that information and hurt your case.
A Believing Mind
As mentioned, most lawyers should give you a free initial meeting with their firm. However, you want to make sure that you are actually meeting with a lawyer. If the firm sets you up with an interview with a legal aid or paralegal, you can assume that they don’t view your case as very important. This adds the risk that they will not put their all into help you. Going back to the previous example, if you need to retain a worker compensation lawyer but a paralegal comes to meet you in that first meeting, the firm has probably looked at your case and decided that you can’t win and that the company or person at fault is going to contest too much and you will have to settle for something less than what you want. You need a lawyer that is going to believe in you. If your lawyer doesn’t believe in you, then who would? Certainly not a judge or jury.
A Persistent Personality
A lawyer needs to be driven and motivated. It doesn’t matter the type of case you have, at some point you are going to have to file paperwork, sit through a mediation meeting or stand trial. If your lawyer is meek and timid you will end up not getting everything you deserve. You need a lawyer that is not afraid to push for a higher settlement or expedite the paper process or fight for you on the stand.
Don’t be in a rush to find a lawyer, look for one that’s willing to work with you and for you, no matter the circumstances that you might face during the course of the situation.