Hiring an attorney to handle your legal matters can be a tough decision at the best of times, but when you’re dealing with something as complicated as abestos and mesothelioma, finding the right asbestos attorney can be crucial to the success of your claim.
So how do you go about making the right decision?
The first thing you need to make sure you do is take a bit of time to do your research. You don’t need to hire the first attorney that you come across.
Build up a bit of a short list of potential asbestos attorneys who might be able to help you based on searching the internet and also through referrals from other people who have dealt with the same problem or know someone that has.
Once you have your short list created, there are some questions that you can ask each of them before making you final decision. These questions include:
How Many Asbestos Cases Have You Handled?
You definitely want to find an attorney that has good experience in this area of the law. It’s all well and good to have knowledge in theory, but what you really want is an attorney who deals with these kind of cases on a regular basis and knows what needs to be done to get you the settlement you deserve.
Ask For Examples Of Good Outcomes
You don’t just want asbestos attorneys that have experience, you want attorneys that deliver good results. So if you can, probe the attorney a bit for some examples of specific cases.
Settlement vs Trial
Not all lawsuits will end up in court. Often times a skillful asbestos attorney will be able to get you a great settlement without going to trial.
Talk to your attorney about where they see the case going and compare their answers with what other asbestos lawyers are telling you.
Ask For Testimonials
Ask the attorney if they can point you to some clients that they have helped in the past. This way you can try and find an attorney that seems to have helped clients with situations that are very similar to your own.
Ask About Class Actions
If the attorney feels that your case might be better handled as part of a class action it’s important that the attorney is capable of handling that extra pressure. Just because they tell you that a class action might be the way to go, doesn’t mean they have to be the ones that handle that class action suit for you and the others. Ask About Payment
Before entering into any sort of arrangement with a lawyer you need to make sure that your clear on how their fee works.
Do they demand an upfront retainer or are they willing to work on a no win no fee basis? If so, what percentage of your settlement are they going to take?
You need to be clear on the financial arrangements before you make your commitment.
Once you start asking these kinds of questions of any potential asbestos attorney, then you’re quickly going to be able to remove some from your short list and get down to the business of making your final choice.
This entry was posted on Saturday, October 1st, 2011 at 6:52 pm and is filed under Asbestos Attorney, Asbestos Lawyer, Asbestos Lawyers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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