Make Sure You Both Understand Your Goals and How Your Relationship Will Work
Selecting the right attorney is the first step. Once you find that person, you then need to make sure that you are both on the same page in terms of what you expect to achieve, and how you will work together to achieve it. Here are a couple of important factors to discuss with your attorney to make sure your case proceeds smoothly toward a final resolution.
- How Will You And Your Attorney Keep In Touch?
Make sure you and your attorney are clear on how you will be informed about the progress of your case. Be sure to discuss how frequently you will be updated, how you will be contacted (for example, by phone, letter, or e-mail), and what topics will be discussed or will require an update.
For example, in most “on the ball” Nashville injury attorney offices, the clients are followed through their medical treatment. In our practice, you will have an experienced and caring paralegal who will keep track of your medical treatment visits. We keep a calendar of when our clients’ medical treatments are scheduled and, every day our employee calls those clients who were scheduled to see a doctor in order to get an update on their medical status. This way, as soon as the client is finished with treatment, we know and can start pushing the case toward settlement mediation and/or trial.
- Who Will Actually Be Working On Your Case?
Find out who will actually be working on your case. Make sure you have a commitment from the attorney you hire as to who will be in charge of managing your case. Some of the “high volume” firms have paralegals opening, negotiating and settling claim. In my opinion this is practicing law without a license. That is a crime in Tennessee, not to mention a gift for the insurance company who wants to pay you less than the fair value of the claim. Only an experienced attorney should be in charge of your case. At Keith Williams Law Group, we are board certified trial attorneys who maintain daily contact with our paralegals and our clients in order to stay on top of their case. Insurance companies know that, if they refuse to negotiate with us on your behalf in good faith, we won’t hesitate to take your case to trial. You can bet that changes their attitude from the beginning, whereas if they are dealing only with paralegals, law students, junior attorneys or settlement lawyers, the insurance companies are in the position of power. With a board certified experienced trial attorney, YOU are in the position of power.
At our firm, a paralegal is in charge of tracking the client’s medical treatment, answering routine questions, and gathering all pertinent medical records—all traditional paralegal tasks that do not require a law license. All cases we take in are managed directly by one of our experienced attorneys. Our attorneys are the ones who directly deal with the insurance company and the other side’s lawyers, manage the case and develop legal strategy, negotiate settlement of the claim, and ultimately prepare for and try the case if it does not settle. Only our attorneys experienced in the practice of accident and injury law are in charge of our clients’ cases!
