By Omid Rejali, Esq.
ATTORNEYS ADVERTISING THAT THEY HAVE RECOVERED MILLIONS WITHOUT PROVIDING ANY SPECIFIC DETAIL AS TO THE FACTS OR INJURIES OF THEIR CLIENTS; OR IF THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT A SINGLE RESULT NOT GIVING YOU FACTS ABOUT THE INJURY THEIR CLIENT HAD SUSTAINED.
With the advent of social media more than ever before you see advertising from personal injury attorneys showing the millions and millions of dollars that they have recovered for their clients, or advertising a single result that they obtained for a client.
The message of these advertising’s is clear. Because we were able to obtain such a result for one client, we can get the same result for you. So, hire us! Plus you have nothing to lose because you don’t pay us anything, unless we win!
The truth is, under the California ethics guidelines attorneys are not allowed to advertise any results without specifically mentioning that the result or outcome of the case is not a guarantee, warranty or prediction of any other outcome. Lately however I have not been seeing that in the recent advertising trends.
The next time you or anyone you know is in need of a personal injury attorney make sure that you do your due diligence before hiring them. Here are some suggestions.
1) Ask About the Attorney’s Reputation in the Community or Look it up Online
Make sure that if you know an attorney to ask them if they know the reputation of the attorney that you will be hiring. Remember, the personal injury attorney that you hire can be extremely important to you because they can be the difference between an attorney who will settle your case early for a quick buck versus one that will fight till the end and will say NO to the insurance company until they pay you what is fair.
Another way you can look up the attorney’s reputation is through Avon.com . Once there, you can see if the attorney has received any endorsements from other attorneys in the community. Although, this can be less reliable than asking around and doing your own research because the attorneys can have their friends write about them.
2) Have the Attorney You Are Hiring Explain to You Some of The Results They Boast About on Their Website
During your consultation make sure you ask the personal injury lawyer you are trying to hire about some of the results they have on their website to see if they can explain them to you. A personal injury attorney should be able to explain those results to you right away, especially if they are in the millions of dollars.
3) Ask the Attorney You Are Hiring if They have Trial Experience with Personal Injury Cases
Personal injury lawyers who have trial experience deeply care about their clients and do not back down until they get you what they believe is fair. You do not know the value of your case and that is the reason why you hire a personal injury lawyer. You want to make sure that the attorney knows you well, cares, and understands what the value of your case is and, is not looking to make a quick buck!
4) During Your Initial Consultation with the Attorney Ask About the Names of The Cases Advertised
During your initial consultation with the personal injury attorney ask about the names of the advertised results. Unless they are confidential, request that the information be provided to you. Once you have a name of the case, you can then search for that result online and verify that in fact that attorney or at least that firm was the primary firm responsible for that result.
You can search for verdicts on juryverdictalert.com. Once there, input the name of the case and you will see the names of the attorneys responsible for obtaining the result.
****It is important to make sure to make sure that the attorney you are hiring is the attorney primary responsible for the results they claim they have received. A lot of firms advertise that they are responsible for a certain verdict or result, when in fact they are not. What these firms do is they get you through the door and, afterwards funnel your case to a bigger firm to handle the case for you so that they can still collect a referral fee on your case.
It’s important to go to the firm that will handle your case from start to finish, because many times these firms that funnel cases do an extremely poor job on working on your case during the litigation process, which can then have a devastating impact on the results of your case later on.
I hope this blog helps you.
If you have any other questions, feel free to contact my office at 619-887-4148, send us a text message to 619-485-6313, send me an email at omid@rejalilawfirm.com or leave us a message here and we will get back to you.
Born to get you justice.
RELATED ARTICLES
Can a trial attorney get you more money for your San Diego injury Claim?
3 Questions You Should Ask Before Hiring Your San Diego Car Accident Lawyer
3 Reasons why you should delay settling your San Diego car accident claim?