Finding a car accident lawyer in Decatur is fairly straightforward. In fact, there are so many it can seem a bit overwhelming – however finding the best one can be a lot more difficult. Below is outlined a simple plan that can give you confidence in finding the best lawyer you need.
Have a Plan
Firstly, draw up a shortlist. About five should probably be enough, but if not,you can always add to it once you have gone through the initial list. Draw up a list either from a search in Google or Bing or any other search engine.
This list can be fairly random, but if you ignore the ads and go to the organic search results, then you are likely to see the most popular ones that other people are looking for. This should give you a good base to start from.
Interview Car Accident Lawyers in Decatur
Next, interview the five car accident lawyer firms in Decatur you have selected. Although this may seem a bit daunting, virtually all car accident lawyers offer some type of free evaluation where they are willing to discuss your claim with you. This is normally done either on-line, by phone or in person.
This gives you a really good opportunity to gauge their attitude to you, and also to get some independent insight into the potential of your claim.
Seeing how they treat you before you are a client, is a really good indicator of how they are likely to treat you to have signed you up. It is not a guarantee of good service, but it is as good an indicator as you are likely to get.
Below are five car accident lawyers in Decatur, selected at random, purely as an indication of how this should work. Below the lawyers are a number of questions that it is worth asking before deciding which firm of car accident lawyers in Decatur to hire.
Katz Wright Fleming Dodson & Mildenhall, LLC
Suite 300
Decatur, Georgia 30030
(404) 460-0101 or (877) 343-959
Murray Law Firm, LLC
The Astoria 306
Atlanta, Georgia 30309
(888) 842-1616
Kalka & Baer LLC
Suite 550
Atlanta, Georgia 30309
(404) 907-1594
Shiver Hamilton, LLC
Suite 950
Atlanta, Georgia 30326
(912) 210-5070
Monge & Associates, P.C.
Building 19
Atlanta, Georgia 30350
(678) 582-8066 or (800) 860-8021
Questions to ask Car Accident Lawyers in Decatur
Some questions to ask Car Accident Lawyers in Decatur
- Do they work on a contingency fee basis?
- What is their history on winning personal injury claims, details of settlements and types of claims?
- What types of personal injury claim do they deal with – what are their areas of practice?
- Do they have client reviews on their website?
- Do they have any disciplinary sanctions applied to them as a firm, or are there any pending?
Contingency Fees
A number of car accident lawyers in Decatur work on what is known as a contingency fee basis. This is sometimes referred to as a no-win no fee arrangement.
Generally speaking, a lawyer will not charge you any fee upfront for the work they do, but will take their fee from any settlement that is awarded to you or agreed for personal injury damages. In many cases this can be about a third of your final settlement.
It is also worth noting that even with some contingency fee arrangements, the car accident lawyers may require you to pay some money upfront in certain circumstances, such as the case going to court where upfront costs could be incurred.
If you enter into a contingency fee arrangement with a car accident lawyer, be aware of this potential for upfront costs, and get specific and clear details from the lawyers if this could happen, and if so in what circumstances.
Breaking Contingency Fee Arrangements
The other thing about contingency fee arrangements is to realise that once you enter into them, it is really difficult to get out of them until any final settlement is agreed. The car accident lawyers in Decatur involved will want to tie you into the arrangement until they get their fee.
Many personal injury claims can go on for several years, and people can sometimes get disheartened or want to settle early.
From a lawyer’s point of view, this could mean that they could lose money on the work they have already done on the case, which they would have recovered from any final settlement.
As such, if you enter into a contingency fee arrangement and wish to cancel it prior to any settlement being agreed with the lawyers, you would normally be required to pay a significant sum to the law firm to compensate them for work they had already done on your behalf.
This is something that needs to be clearly understood at the outset of any contingency fee arrangement, and ideally detailed spelt out in the arrangement as to what these costs could be, and on what basis they could be incurred.
Car Accident Lawyers Websites in Decatur GA
Most car accident lawyers in Decatur will use their websites as way of answering some of the questions listed above, as well as many others. This will often include putting on the website previous settlements they have obtained for clients, and how much these settlements are.
That websites are also likely to include a number of client reviews, and it is probably fair to assume these are genuine, although of course they will only be the favourable ones !
It is worth looking for any reviews that are done by lawyers themselves, as these can be fairly insightful into the car accident lawyers in Decatur effectiveness that you are thinking of hiring.