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8 Skills That Every Personal Injury Attorney Should Have 

January 5, 2021 Legal Team
8 Skills That Every Personal Injury Attorney Should Have

If you’ve been injured in any type of accident, one of the first things you need to do after seeking medical attention is to hire an experienced personal injury attorney to help you recover adequate compensation for your injuries. However, admittedly the entire process can be overwhelming, especially when you’re trying to recover from your physical injuries. Unfortunately, as with any profession, many less-than-excellent attorneys are trying to “make a buck” in the Personal Injury space. A good choice requires a little research to find the best legal representation for your personal injury claim.

Fortunately, there are many ways and resources to help you find the best legal representation. However, one of the best ways to help you vet and eventually hire the right attorney is to understand what skills you should be looking for in a personal injury attorney.

To assist you with finding an experienced and skillful personal injury attorney, we will briefly discuss eight skills that every personal injury attorney should have in the next releases.

1st Skill -Ability to Provide Fair Legal Representation

Frankly, trying to defend yourself in a personal injury lawsuit is tricky. This is the main reason why you need a legal professional who is familiar with the intricacies of personal injury laws in your state to help you navigate your claim. You need an attorney that can provide fair legal representation. They’ll be able to use their negotiating skills, legal education, and research skills to obtain the best settlement amount for your injuries.

Therefore, when you have to negotiate with an insurance company, an experienced personal injury attorney can provide fair legal representation from the beginning through the end of your case.

That way, you can rest assured knowing that your attorney has your best interest in mind and will get you the most compensation available.

2nd Skill – Substantial Experience in Handling Personal Injury Claims

When you are looking to hire a personal injury attorney, you must hire an experienced one.

Typically, you want an attorney who has at least five years or more in the personal injury legal field. Additionally, you should ask potential attorneys about their track record regarding settlement amounts and judgments won over the last five years. By hiring a legal professional who has substantial legal experience in personal injury law, you give yourself the best chance of winning your case and receiving fair compensation for your injuries.

3rd Skill – Understands What Your Claim is Worth

When you hire an experienced personal injury attorney, they should understand how much your claim is worth from the onset.

Notably, an experienced and competent personal injury lawyer understands how to calculate how much your claim and injuries are worth thoroughly. Realistically, unless you, yourself, are a personal injury attorney, you probably cannot calculate the value of your claims by yourself. This is why hiring an experienced personal injury attorney is crucial.  

Experienced personal injury attorneys know how to calculate what your claim is worth and how to negotiate with the insurance company and the at–fault party to reach the best settlement amount. Otherwise, if you try to do this yourself, you may end up with an unfair settlement amount or no settlement at all. 

4th Skill – Litigation Skills

Realistically, most personal injury claims are settled out of court. However, if your personal injury claim is not settled with the insurance company, this means that you will have to go to trial.

As such, you must hire a personal injury attorney who knows exactly how the courtroom works and has superb litigation skills to influence a jury in your favor.

If you observe that your personal injury attorney has excellent litigation skills from the beginning, this is a great sign that you have chosen the right attorney to litigate your claim, should you end up going to trial.

5th Skill – The Ability to Think Objectively

The last thing you want to do is to hire a lawyer who becomes too emotional about the cases that they handle. Although empathy is useful in some cases, this is not why you’re hiring a personal injury attorney. In other words, you want an attorney who can look at your case objectively and advocate on your behalf objectively.

When your personal injury attorney is objective, you can all but guarantee that they will be a great advocate.

They will set aside their personal feelings and emotions and consider only the facts of your case to advocate for your rights and interests properly.

6th Skill – Responsiveness and Communication

Generally speaking, some attorneys don’t devote enough time to communicating with their clients. In other words, they take their clients for granted. Therefore, you need to make sure you don’t hire an attorney who fails to communicate with you. You must remember that your personal injury claim is important and deserves proper attention. If you see that your lawyer is not responsive, available, or patient in answering all your questions, then you should consider seeking another attorney who values your claim and your business.

A trustworthy personal injury attorney will always be responsive to your inquiries regardless of their schedule.

This is true even if they may not personally be the ones to communicate with you. Instead, they may send an associate from their office to ensure that your needs are taken care of. Overall, the last thing you want to do during this stressful time is work with attorneys which makes reaching out to them for information difficult. As such, if you’re looking to hire an attorney to help you in your personal injury lawsuit, you must consider their responsiveness, availability, and communication with you.

7th Skill – Honesty

Above all, you want to hire a personal injury attorney who can be honest with you.

Some personal injury attorneys will shower you with flattering words and tell you false promises about the viability of your case. However, this only harms you in the long run. Instead, you want to hire an attorney who can be candid with you about the weaknesses of your case and give you an honest representation of the chances of you winning it if you go to trial. This is important because if you are offered a settlement, and your attorney has been honest with you about the weaknesses of your case, you may be more motivated to take a settlement instead of risk going to trial. Hence, you should hire a personal injury attorney who has integrity and prides themselves on being honest with their clients.

8th Skill – Empathy and Compassion

An experienced personal injury attorney should also possess empathy and compassion for their clients. Dealing with a personal injury can be a traumatic experience, and the attorney should understand the physical, emotional, and financial impact it can have on their clients.

By showing empathy and compassion, the attorney can build a strong relationship with their client and make them feel heard and understood. This, in turn, can help the client feel more comfortable with the legal process and trust their attorney’s advice.

Additionally, an attorney who cares about their client’s well-being will be more motivated to fight for the compensation their client deserves. They will be more likely to go the extra mile to ensure that their client’s needs are met, both in and out of court.

Contact the Personal Injury Attorneys at Shapiro | Delgado | Hofmann

If you have suffered a personal injury, it is important to seek legal advice as soon as possible. A personal injury attorney at Shapiro | Delgado | Hofmann has all the skills to handle your case. We can help you understand your rights and legal options, and guide you through the complex process of pursuing a claim. We understand what you are going through and can help you obtain compensation for medical bills, emotional damages, and more.