Any good personal injury lawyer offers a free consultation to each potential client. Clients that hope to derive a maximum benefit for such an opportunity come to the consultation with a list of appropriate questions.
The most basic questions
Have you handled other cases like mine? That would be an important question if your case would introduce certain challenges. For instance, it could be that one of the passengers in a car that was involved in an accident happened to be over 65, and was therefore covered by Medicare. Alternately, it could be that the driver had managed to control a chronic medical condition.
Will you be overburdened if you take my case? Even the best attorney will struggle to stay on top of all the tasks that he or she must do, if that same attorney has agreed to take on a large number of cases.
Do you have courtroom experience? Some lawyers agree to settle the negotiations, rather than contest an issue in court. That can lead to the delivery of a smaller compensation.
Do you charge a contingency fee? If so, what is it? Do not be afraid to ask what percent of your award you must give to the consulted lawyer.
Other questions you might want to ask:
Do you think that I should pursue this case? Most personal injury lawyers in Edmonton will refuse to take a case that does not seem likely to insure delivery to the client of the expected award.
How will you communicate with me, and how do you want me to get in touch with you? The consulted attorney might prefer to call clients on the phone. Still, an exchange of emails might be the lawyer’s preferred mode of communications. Some lawyers even prefer to schedule face-to-face meetings with clients.
What tasks do you expect the client to handle? Sometimes a client gets asked to keep a record of certain expenses. At other times, a client that complains about a terrible pain might be asked to keep a journal or diary. That could serve as record of the times when the pain appeared, as well as evidence of a pain’s persistence, or the length of each pain’s duration.
When observations replace questions
You must study that manner in which the consulted lawyer offers his or her answer. In that way, you can better gauge how well you will be able to work with that particular member of the legal profession.
Pay attention to the consulted attorney’s approach to any particular problem. That can help you to gain a greater insight in to the mind of the person that you will be counting on, as you try to win a fair compensation.