Looking For A Lawyer? Read This Handy Information
If you have ever needed a lawyer, you know how important it is to get the right lawyer. The right lawyer can be a great counselor, an effective partner and a good warrior for your cause. However, the bad lawyer could lead to your ruin. That is why you need to think carefully when finding and dealing with lawyers. Let this article help you. Here are some great tips.
Make sure to request a lawyer's work history prior to making a hiring decision. Just because he/she is a licensed attorney doesn't mean they are good at their job. Be sure that you evaluate their record so that you're confident in their abilities.
Make sure to find out who all will be involved with helping to work on your case. What sort of experience do they have? Some may have years of experience, whereas others may be fresh out of law school. How much time is your lawyer anticipating on devoting to your case?
A good tip to keep in mind when thinking about hiring a lawyer is to write down several questions that you wish to ask him or her. You want to find out what their philosophy is and so on, and asking questions will help give you a clear idea about them.
If you notice that the lawyer you chose is not doing the job that you were expecting, do not be afraid to fire them. This is the person that you are paying your money for, so at any point you can cut ties. If you are facing a legal matter, you only want the best on your side.
If you are going through a divorce, do not use the same lawyer that your estranged spouse is using. Many people use a familiar firm, but that is a big conflict of interest when it is the same one used by your ex. Look around read more and try to find someone comparable.
Once you have decided to hire a particular lawyer, make sure you receive a written retainer letter that specifically defines the scope of representation, the details of the services you are to receive and the applicable fee structure. By doing this, you will stand a much better chance of getting precisely what you bargained for and you will have useful documentation of the intended relationship should you need to pursue the lawyer in a malpractice action at some point.
Make sure that you are one hundred percent comfortable before you sign any legal documentation hiring your lawyer. The last thing that you need if you are already in a bad situation is to have to pay extra money to a lawyer that you do not want. Take precaution before signing on the dotted line.
Do not choose a lawyer who guarantees you they will win your case easily. A responsible attorney should never try to win your business by guaranteeing a victory. This is something that should be a red flag for you.
You should never hire a lawyer from an advertisement that you have seen on television, seen in the phone book or heard on the radio. This is really no indication of how good of lawyer they are. Research the lawyer's legal background and read reviews from their peers to determine if they are right for you.
You really need to understand what you are paying for when you hire a lawyer. These fees can be complicated. You need to make sure you have all these fees in writing up front and that you understand how they are calculated. If you do not, they are required to explain them to you until you do.
You should wait a while after you meet an attorney before deciding whether or not to hire them. After the first meeting, call a few times to see how long it takes for them to get back to you. If it is not an acceptable time, you should hire someone else.
Do not automatically rule out a lawyer just because they charge you a fee for their consultation. If the time they offer is pretty extensive, and they are willing to give you a good assessment of your case, that is worth paying them a fee for this service. All lawyers that offer free consultations are not always the best.
The more you learn about favorable lawyer qualities, the better your lawyer-client relationship will be, which can help you win your case. Do not let your legal problems overwhelm you. However, if you read this article, you will be more prepared in finding an attorney who can manage your case efficiently.
Auto insurers play hardball in minor-crash claims
ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- If you are injured in a minor car crash, chances are good that you will be in the fight of your life to get the insurance company to pay all the medical costs you incur -- even if the accident was no fault of your own.
That's what CNN discovered in an 18-month investigation into minor-impact soft-tissue injury crashes around the country. Those are accidents in which there is little damage to the vehicle and the injuries to people are not easy to see by the naked eye or conventional medical tools like X-rays.
Since the mid-1990s, most of the major insurance companies -- led by the two largest, Allstate and State Farm -- have adopted a tough take-it-or-leave-it strategy when dealing with such cases.
The result has been billions in profits for insurance companies and little, if anything, for the public, according to University of Nevada insurance law professor Jeff Stempel.
"We can see that policyholders individually are getting hurt by being dragged through the court on fender-bender claims, and yet we don't see any collateral benefit in the form of reduced premiums even for the other policyholders," Stempel said.
"So I think now we can say to continue this kind of program is in my view institutionalized bad faith."
If you have never heard of the strategy, it's because insurance companies don't want you to know that they are paying out less and less for minor crashes even while their profits soar and your premiums continue to rise.
But after a review of more than 6,000 company documents and court records, interviews with a dozen people nationwide, including former company insiders, and conversations with accident victims, the picture is clear: If you challenge the offer by some insurance companies you will be left with no option but to go to court, where you will be dragged through the wringer.