What Should I Be Looking For In a Tucson Injury Lawyer?

How To Find The Right Injury Lawyer For Your Case

No matter how careful you are, sometimes accidents are unavoidable and completely outside of your control. Serious accidents have far more consequences than the inconvenience of taking your car to the repair shop or replacing it entirely. Your injuries could be painful and make it difficult for you to go about your daily life, much less go to work. Staying home from work could even be part of your doctor’s recommendations. That’s on top of the pure inconvenience and stress of going to doctors’ appointments, and you could even be referred to specialists for additional treatment. With all this stress, you could find damage in the relationships with your family and consider mental health services. With all of this potentially going on, the idea of interviewing personal injury attorneys and hiring one to represent you in your injury claim may seem daunting. But if you don’t, it will be your own responsibility to go up against the insurance company to pursue compensation for your injuries. For your free consultation with an experienced Tucson injury firm with great rates, contact us at 520-231-2822.

Traits To Look For In Your Injury Lawyer

You may see countless advertisements for accident lawyers, but we don’t all offer the same level of service, and some may charge higher rates than others. Here are some of the factors you may want to consider if you’re looking for an injury lawyer in the Tucson area:

Free consultations

For a personal injury attorney to agree to take your case, they must first hold a consultation with you. This is when you will discuss the accident details with the lawyer, as well as your damages, to determine if you have a good claim. Some attorneys may charge you for this consultation, while others will offer it free of charge. If money is tight after an accident, it could serve you well to start your search with only lawyers who offer free consultations.

Knowledge of Arizona Law

If you ask your injury lawyer how long you have to file your lawsuit and they need to look it up, you might be in trouble. Laws vary from state to state but your attorney should be knowledgeable about Arizona’s in particular. Ignorance of Arizona laws and procedures could cause delays at the least, or even be fatal to your claim. For example, your injury attorney could have formerly practiced in South Carolina, where the statute of limitations for most personal injury claims is 3 years. However, here in Tucson, most claims will be bound by a 2-year statute of limitations, unless certain exceptions apply. If you were to file your case after the 2-year mark but before the 3-year mark, it would almost immediately be dismissed for failure to comply with Arizona law.

Familiarity With Insurance Company Procedures

For almost any type of injury claim in Tucson, you will end up dealing with an insurance company. There are auto, homeowner’s, and business owner’s insurance policies that will apply to most types of injury claims. Without an injury attorney representing you, it will be your responsibility to deal with the insurance adjuster assigned to your claim. A skilled attorney will help you navigate issues like your demand letter, negotiation, recorded interviews, and more. This will help preserve your claim’s value against insurance company tactics.

Specific Personal Injury Experience

A lawyer could have graduated law school 30 years ago but only started practicing personal injury in the past few years. When you interview personal injury lawyers, make sure they specify how much of their experience is in the personal injury area specifically. Otherwise, you could be paying a premium for someone with irrelevant knowledge and experience. That’s not to say that experience in other fields is entirely irrelevant, but you still want to make sure you find a lawyer with significant personal injury experience. This can even include working on the other side in the claims department for an insurance company.

Dedicated Staff

Some lawyers operate as one-man businesses. They might answer phone calls themselves, or even hire a remote answering service rather than hire a receptionist. It can be a great way for some lawyers to save money on staffing costs. However, our firm makes sure that we hire support staff who are just as experienced and helpful as our lawyers. When you call our office, you won’t be speaking to someone thousands of miles away, or even in a different country. If your lawyer is unavailable, the receptionist or assistant who answers your call will assist you or deliver your message to your lawyer. Not every issue or question needs to be tackled by an attorney, so having qualified support staff available can help you feel informed and confident throughout your injury claim.

Negotiation Skills

Many people assume that trial skills are the most important thing to look for in an injury lawyer. While being a proficient trial lawyer is undoubtedly beneficial, approximately 95% of injury claims settle out of court. That means that most likely, your award will come from a settlement agreement you reached with the other party. Negotiation skills here are crucial, otherwise you could end up with a low settlement or going to trial against your wishes.

Persuasiveness Before a Jury

We’ve already mentioned that most likely, your claim will be settled out of court. However, if your case does proceed to trial, you want an assertive and confident attorney who will get the jury on your side. While trial is a stressful ordeal, the silver lining is that it opens up the possibility of being awarded punitive damages. Punitive damages have less to do with the plaintiff’s injuries and more to do with punishing any malicious conduct by the defendant. If you do have to take your case to trial, you definitely want a lawyer who can win, and who might even have punitive damages added to your award as well.

Competitive Contingency Fee

When you hire an injury lawyer, you will most likely pay on a contingency basis. A contingency fee is when you give your lawyer a set percentage of your award, but your lawyer gets nothing if you lose or don’t reach a settlement. The amount that personal injury attorneys take can be quite significant, and a higher rate attorney doesn’t always mean higher quality. In fact, an injury attorney with a higher contingency rate doesn’t have to work as hard to get the same paycheck as a lawyer with a lower contingency fee.

Free Consultations. Competitive Rates. Top Level Legal Representation.

Tucson Injury Lawyers has spent years helping clients achieve favorable outcomes in personal injury claims. We have honed our skills to produce quick settlements that fairly compensate our clients for their injuries. We also respect that our clients have bills to pay and lives to get back to after their injury claims. That’s why we charge a fair and reasonable contingency fee of 25%. Depending on your claim’s value, this could save you thousands of dollars against our competitors, some of whom charge 33% or more. We also offer free consultations, so you can figure out if we’re the firm for you with no risk. To schedule your free consultation today, call 520-231-2822.

Injury Lawyers Tucson
2 East Congress St., Suite #900-6A
Tucson, AZ 85701
Phone: (520) 441-1450
Email: info@tucsoninjurylawyers.org