Hello, my name is Bob Garvey from the personal injury law firm of Thomas, Garvey & McKenna in St. Clair Shores, in Macomb County, Michigan. The topic that I’d like to discuss today is questions that you might ask when looking for a lawyer to handle your personal injury, medical malpractice or wrongful death case. And there are four questions that I think any person looking for a lawyer in the state of Michigan should ask.
First question is do you limit your practice to this kind of case? I think the reason that that’s important information is obvious. But, it might not be as obvious to you as it is to me. The reason that’s such an obvious and important question to ask, especially in the state of Michigan, is that we don’t have specialization. So there is nobody who puts a seal of approval on a particular lawyer or publicly declares that this lawyer has a certain amount of competence. So any lawyer can advertise and tell you that this is what they do, and what they do well. There’s nobody else that says that, other than that person. So the first question you want to ask is, do you limit your practice to personal injury? They can’t say specialized, but you can ask and they have to honestly answer, do you limit your practice to that area, and they should. If they’re going to be handling your personal injury case they should.
Second question you want to ask is, do you try cases? Why do you want to know that? The reason you want to know that is, if the lawyer never tries cases and has never had successes, the other side, the insurance companies, know that. And it just makes common sense. If you hire a personal injury lawyer that’s never tried cases, at the end of the day, that lawyer’s going to take whatever they offer, and it’s not going to be generally a fair settlement.
Third question you want to ask, again, common sense, when you do try cases, what have your results been? The lawyer should have a track record of winning and that’s just common sense why that’s important. That adjuster knows that. And even though you might not want to try your personal injury case, you’re going to get the benefit in terms of settlement as a result of the experiences that lawyer has had in the court room with jurors. Juries keep insurance companies honest. If your lawyer never tries cases, go to another lawyer.
Last question I think is fair to ask a lawyer is where do you get your cases? Where do you get your work? If the lawyer gets almost all of their cases from TV ads or billboards, that tells you one thing. If the lawyer gets the majority of their cases from other lawyers in the community that tells you quite something else, doesn’t it?
Questions To Ask a Michigan Personal Injury Attorney Before You Hire Them
So, if you ask those 4 questions and it’s a good idea, if you’re thinking of coming to us, you could meet with us, compare us. Not many Michigan personal injury lawyers are going to suggest that you compare this law firm to their law firm. We urge you to do that and we hope, once you to do that, you’ll come and see us, and we will take care of you.