The Do’s and Don’ts of Hiring A Tennessee Attorney for Your Injury Case!
Picking an Attorney: First: What Not To Do!
Do not assume that just because a lawyer can afford a TV commercial, they are a good attorney. I know many fine lawyers across the country who are excellent injury attorneys that I would not hesitate to have represent me or a member of my family in a case. Two common characteristics I have seen in these excellent and highly successful attorneys: (1) they all are willing to—and do—take their cases to trial when the insurance companies refuse to settle for what the cases are worth; and, (2) they do not advertise on TV.
These two characteristics seem to go hand-in-hand. In fact, most (though certainly not all) “TV Injury Lawyers” rarely go to trial and the insurance companies know this. The insurance companies know that most of these “TV Tennessee Injury Attorneys” accept too many cases to be able to devote the time and attention to each case that is needed to maximize their value and that those lawyers have to settle the claim for much less than it is worth. The insurance companies know that these lawyers are like the Wal-Marts of Injury attorneys: they handle high volume at a lower price. Clients may see only a paralegal throughout their case, never the attorney. Beware! Don’t get caught in the volume trap. Similarly, if you have ever browsed through the “Yellow Pages” in your local phone book, you probably have seen pages and pages of ads for attorneys. An easy way to spot the “Volume Lawyers” is to look for the ones that are yelling the loudest. “Free Consultation,” “You don’t owe a dime until I collect,” “Call Me Now”, “Justice is your right and we demand it”, “I’m the Heavy Hitter”, or “One Call—that’s all!” “You don’t owe a dime until I collect.”
I’m not saying all attorneys in the phone book are high volume lawyers—NOT AT ALL. Almost every business or profession in America has a “Yellow Page” listing. It is a totally legitimate means of an attorney offering his or her services to the public. In fact, up until last year, our law firm has an ad in the yellow pages. What I am saying is to look for signs of the “Volume Lawyers” and to avoid selecting an attorney solely based on catchy taglines or who has the slickest looking advertisement. It’s fine to use the yellow pages as a starting place—just don’t let it be the only criteria you use in picking your attorney. Instead, use the guidelines below to help you make sure the Nashville Accident Attorney you select is the right one for you!
Picking an Attorney: Guidelines For Selecting The Right Tennessee Attorney
Finding a good, legitimate experienced attorney can be a challenge, so here are some guidelines you can use:
1. Choose an attorney who is Board Certified in Civil Trials.
Just as you probably would not allow just any family practitioner doctor to perform back surgery on you, you do not want to depend on just any attorney to handle your car wreck claim. For your surgery you would want to be sure the doctor specialized in performing surgery, so you would look for a Board Certified surgeon. You should make these same considerations when choosing an attorney. For your case, you would want to be sure the attorney is specialized in trying cases before a judge, Circuit Judges or Chancellor, so you would look for an attorney who is Board Certified in Civil Trials. I believe this to be a very important factor to consider when selecting an attorney to handle your accident or injury case.
2. Select an attorney whose practice is limited to accident, injury and wrongful death cases.
In deciding between one of these Certified Civil Trial Specialists, you should choose one that limits his or her practice to accident, injury and wrongful death cases. Certified Civil Trial Specialists practice in a variety of different areas of the law, from property disputes, to contract disputes, to consumer rights, to civil rights actions. None of those areas involve the issues central to your injury claim. You should choose an attorney that devotes one hundred percent (100%) of their time to representing clients in accident, injury and wrongful death cases. The field of injury law is much too complicated and requires a tremendous amount of time for the “general practitioner” or “part-time” lawyer to master.