If you have been injured in an accident and considering hiring a lawyer, no doubt you’ve seen plenty of law firms advertising their practice in the Houston area. Whether on TV, radio, billboards, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, lawyer are everywhere. In the state of Texas, there are nearly 94,000 practicing attorneys according to the American Bar Association. That’s a lot of attorneys to choose from! If you have been in an accident and. have suffered injuries, you should absolutely speak to a lawyer so that you can receive maximum compensation.
What are the most important factors for choosing the right accident lawyer?
Like any other businesses, most personal injury la firms need to advertise to create awareness for their practice. As a consumer however, the question becomes, how do you know which one you should choose? The guide was created to help you choose the very best personal injury lawyer to help you with your case.
There are many different things to consider, but the following are the most important: Read recent reviews: Go read Google reviews, Yelp reviews, etc. of the law firm you are considering to hire. Seeing what other people have to say is important. Don’t just look at the stat ratings. Actually read what people are saying. If the lawyer has many negative reviews and has not posted any response, that’s a sign that you probably should stay away from that lawyer. However, keep in mind that many businesses today engage in paid fake reviews. Lawyers included. So, keep that in mind. Some of the signals for authentic reviews are longer, more detailed ones that talk about specific experiences or ones providing more information about their experience. Look at the past case results on their website: While past performance never guarantees future success since every single case is different, at least this can give you a good indicator of how successful the firm is. In Houston, there are plenty of law firms with plenty of 7-figure settlements/verdicts. When on a website, look for “case results” so you can see a history of past personal injury specific settlements and/or verdicts . Look at their years of experience : How many years of experience does the lawyer you are considering hiring have? Experience is a huge factor. You don’t want a lawyer who has just got their license to practice in the past couple of years. You may be better suited with an attorney with at least a decade of experience. In addition to how many years they have been practicing law, you want a lawyer who has specific experience handling cases similar to yours. For example, if you are looking for an accident lawyer in the Houston area, you wouldn’t want a lawyer who specializes in criminal law handling your case. Ideally, you want a personal injury lawyer in Houston who focuses exclusively on personal injury matters. Do they have trial experience? The great majority of car accident lawsuits end up in a settlement. This means that the lawsuit does not go to trial. Going to trial is expensive and can last a long time. Some law firms are afraid to go to trial. Sometimes because they are afraid of losing the case, while other times it’s because they do not have the financial resources to go to trial. Keep in mi, not all personal injury lawyers have trial experience. While the odds are that your case ends up settling, in case the insurance company does not give you and your attorney a fair settlement offer, the best accident lawyers will take your case to trial in order to force them to pay fair value for your case. How do they handle client communication : The most common complaint people have about their lawyer is that they can’t get in touch with them. Client communication is a huge factor. You want to work with an attorney that is responsive to your questions. While you should ask about this when interviewing the lawyer you are considering to hire, also look for this in the reviews left by past clients. Who will be handling your case? : Another important factor is which attorney will you be working with? Will it be the attorney you are interviewing or will they pass you off to a young associate? You should find out. If you are expecting to have your case handled by the partner at the firm and you get passed off to a 2rd year associate who is just out of law school, that should be a part of your decision. Do you feel you can trust the attorney? After interviewing the attorney, do you feel that you can trust the attorney? Depending on the type of case you have, it may end up being handled quickly, or it may end up lasting years. While it’s impossible to know everything you would want to know just during the interview process, you should be able to form on opinion on whether or not you want to work with this law firm. Trust you gut, it’s usually right.
Where is the best place to find a Houston accident lawyer?
There are plenty of ways to find a personal injury lawyer who serves Harris County.
Search Google . Hands down, one of the very best ways to find an attorney is to search Google. Some of the different searches you could use when searching: Best car accident lawyer in Houston Car wreck lawyers near me Best personal injury lawyers in Houston Auto accident lawyer Houston Award winning auto accident lawyers in Houston Best accident lawyers near me Car accident “trial attorneys” Record setting accident lawyers in Texas
Check out reviews online: View personal injury law firm reviews on Yelp. Look for accident attorney reviews on Google. Don’t just look at the ratings, however. Make sure to read the reviews and see what people are saying about the attorneys.
Visit Houston personal injury lawyer websites: Look for the lawyers track record in cases similar to yours. Any great accident lawyer will have a page of case results on their site. Also, look to see if they specialize in personal injury and accident cases, or if they handle lots of different areas of law. You want a specialist handling your case. Houston accident lawyer Jimmy Doan of the Doan Law Firm told us this: “Check reviews, look into their track record of past case results but I think it’s also important to talk to the lawyer you are considering hiring and see if you connect with that person. It’s always better to work with people that you like if you can help it!“.
Look at Lawyer directories: Directories like Findlaw, Justia, Lawyers.com and SuperLawyers will have tons of attorneys to choose from. Keep in mind, the attorneys that appear at the top of the directories are usually paying for those positions.
The Texas State Bar: The state bar has a directory of attorneys. You won’t find reviews or information here but there is a large database of lawyers here.
directory Ask for a referral from a friend who has worked with a personal injury attorney: This is one of my least favorite methods because in most cases, your friend does not know who the premier personal injury lawyers in Texas are. Unless they are an attorney and they are familiar with all the law firms in the area.
Some things you should know when trying to hire the best accident lawyer
All personal injury lawyers handle cases on a contingency fee basis. This means you don’t have to pay them anything unless they successfully resolve your case and are able to recover money on your behalf. Insurance companies are afraid of certain attorneys because they know these attorneys will take a case to trial if need be. What this means is that they may offer an attorney they fear (and their client) a larger settlement than another attorney who they know will not case to trial and is just settles everything. For this reason, you want a true trial lawyer representing you, especially if it’s a serious injury. Most firms will take 33% of the recovery of any settlement they get for you. That number jumps to 40% if your case goes to trial. Now before you start thinking you want to handle your own case so you can avoid paying fees, you should know that’s exactly what the insurance company wants. This is because they know they can take advantage of you. Insurance companies are notorious for offering settlements that are pennies on the dollar of their true value. If you choose the right accident lawyer to handle your case, you will end up with much more money even after paying the attorney his cut. Watch out for “mills”. These are law firms that take large volumes of cases and churn them out, often settling for far less than the case is worth so they can handle large volumes. In firms like this, you the client are just another number. Avoid personal injury settlement mills. Many personal injury attorneys will accept your case, but then refer it out to another law firm to handle. Ask the lawyer you are considering hiring if they will handle your case internally or will they be farming it out to another office. In some cases, this can be a good thing if the law firm you are hiring is in over their head and needs a more skilled and experience lawyer to handle the lawsuit. Most lawyers will travel to your location. If you are too injured, ask the lawyer to come to your location. Almost all attorneys are willing to travel if they want to accept your case.
Are you at one of the following Hospitals? Ask the attorney to come to you:
- Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center
- Ben Taub Hospital
- Clear Lake Regional Medical Center
- Cypress Fairbanks Medical Center
- HCA Houston Healthcare
- Houston Methodist Baytown Hospital
- Houston Methodist Clear Lake Hospital
- Houston Methodist Continuing Care Hospital
- Houston Methodist Hospital
- Houston Methodist
- Sugar Land Hospital Houston Methodist
- The Woodlands Hospital
- Houston Methodist West Hospital
- Houston Methodist Willowbrook Hospital
- Intracare Hospital North Lyndon B. Johnson General Hospital Memorial Hermann–Texas Medical Center
- Memorial Hermann Katy Hospital
- Memorial Hermann
- Memorial City Medical Center
- Memorial Hermann Northwest Hospital
- Menninger Clinic
- St. Joseph Medical Center
- Texas Children’s Hospital
- Texas Orthopedic Hospital
- The Woman’s Hospital of Texas
- TIRR Memorial Hermann University of Texas
- M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
- West Houston Medical Center
- Westbury Community Hospital
Areas Served
Accident lawyers in Harris County serve all over the county, including:
- Downtown Houston
- Northwest Houston
- Midtown Houston
- Memorial Houston Heights
- Montrose, TX
- Nassau Bay, TX
- Katy, TX
- The Woodlands, TX
- Sugarland, TX
- Friendswood, TX
- Clear Lake, TX
- Pearland, TX
- League City, TX
- Richmond, TX
- Spring, TX
- Humble, TX
- Kingwood, TX
- Stafford, TX
- Cypress, TX
- Fulshear, TX
- Missouri City, TX
Houston Accident Lawyers
Are you looking for a Houston accident attorney? Have you been injured by another negligent driver while on the streets or highways of Harris County? You may need the help of a Houston personal injury lawyer that focuses his practice in dealing with motor vehicle accidents including car accidents, truck accidents, motorcycle accidents and other motor vehicle collisions.