Hiring An Attorney - The Five Questions You
Should Always Ask
Author: Herbert Chestnut

It is difficult enough to hire an attorney when you are
familiar with the legal issue and the lawyers you deal with.
When an individual has been injured and needs a workers'
compensation or personal injury attorney for the first time, it
is almost impossible to know if you are selecting the right
attorney. Ironically, in most cases, whether you have selected a
good attorney will only be determined when the case is over. The
five questions below will not insure that your attorney is
competent or the best lawyer for your case. It will give you
some insight into the type of attorney you are hiring.

1. How many years of experience do you have?  This seems to be
an obvious question but it is amazing how infrequently it gets
asked. Experience is the key to the practice of law. The old
adage is that, with a lawyer, you pay for the grey hair. The
more experience an attorney has, the more likely that he or she
has had a case similar to yours. However, every professional
must start somewhere. If your case is assigned to a young
associate, make sure that someone with experience supervises the
case.

2. What percentage of your practice is in this area of the law?
The practice of law is becoming more and more specialized. It
stands to reason that an attorney who chooses to concentrate his
or her practice in a single area know that area better than one
who tries to do a little of everything. It is very difficult in
this day and time to be a "jack of all trades." Also,
relationships between opposing attorneys does play a part in the
successful resolution of a case. The more specialized an
attorney is, the more likely he or she is to know the opponent
if the case goes to litigation.

3. Do you have malpractice insurance?  This question is almost
never asked but should be. However, if you have work done on
your house, one of the first questions you would probably ask is
"Do you have insurance?" If the worst happens and your attorney
commits malpractice, you do not want to try to collect from an
uninsured individual. Also, if he or she has no insurance, there
may be a reason such as previous successful malpractice claims.

4. When I call your office, will I talk to your or one of your
staff?  While paralegals and secretaries are important to any
successful practice, they are not lawyers and are not a fair
substitute for speaking directly with your attorney regarding
important issues in your case. This is not to say that you
should always expect to talk to your lawyer when you call.
However, some firms rely solely on paralegals after the case
begins. The client sees the lawyer when the firm is retained and
maybe when the case settles. You entrusted the attorney with
your case, not his or her staff.

5. Will you try my case yourself?  Often, high volume lawyers
never see the inside of a courtroom. If the case needs to be
tried, they will either withdraw from your case or refer it to
someone else. In a "volume" practice, it takes too much time to
try a case as opposed to settling it. What they sacrifice as far
as the recovery on a single case, they make up in sheer numbers.
These practices are referred to as "mills", grinding out
settlement after settlement. However, when your opponent knows
that your lawyer is not willing to take your case to court, the
chances of you receiving maximum value for your case is far
less.

The decision that you make in hiring an attorney will have more
to do with the eventual result than any other decision you make
on the claim. Most people make this decision on the type of ad
someone has in the phone book or what commercial they see or
hear on television or radio. Just because an attorney appears in
these mediums is no reason to either hire or reject them. Hire
someone you feel comfortable with and confident in. Hopefully,
the above suggestions will be helpful.


About The Author: Herbert Chestnut is an attorney in Marietta,
Georgia. He specializes in Workers' Compensation and cases
involving Iraq contractors under the Defense Base Act. He is
also an author of The Defense Base Act Blog
http://defensebaseactblog.com. View his firm's website at
http://www.chestnutlegal.com