Deciding Which Law Firm to Hire for Your Claim?

Wondering how best to decide which law firm to hire for your workers’ compensation claim or Social Security Disability claim? There are four important factors to consider—the law firm’s reputation, the attitude of the firm’s attorneys who will be assigned to your case, the law firm’s experience with cases like yours, and the location of the law firm’s office with respect to your location, and with respect to where your case will be heard.

The law firm’s reputation is important. A law firm with a good reputation means that other clients were pleased with the law firm’s representation for their workers’ compensation case or Social Security Disability claim. This is a good starting place. It has been said that a pleased client will tell one friend about the law firm which represented him. A client who is dissatisfied will tell three friends about how bad the law firm is. So, a law firm with a good reputation is significant.

Law firms have several associate attorneys. You want to be certain that the attorney representing you believes in your case. If you believe one thing about your case, and the attorney representing you believes another, you do not have good representation. Talk to the attorney assigned to your case. How does this attorney see your case?  Does this attorney see it as a strong case; if not, why? How impaired does the attorney see you? Do you see things differently? If there is a difference, find out why. If you are dissatisfied with the associate attorney’s answers to these questions, talk to the senior attorney at the law firm and have your case reassigned to another attorney. It is important that you and the attorney representing you are on the same page.

Is there something unique about your case? Does the job where you were injured have unique physical demands which your impairment will not let you perform? Does the law firm understand these subtle aspects of your case? Does the law firm have past experience with either your injury or the type of physical demands of your job? Make certain to ask these questions at the intake meeting.

It may seem like an insignificant aspect, but the physical location of the law firm you choose to represent you is important. If you live two hours away from the law firm’s office, will you receive quality representation? Quality representation requires, in part, face-to-face meetings about who you are, what your injury is all about, and discussion of litigation strategies. So you want a law firm which is close enough to where you live to have frequent face-to-face meetings. Just as import is the law firm’s location relative to where your case will be heard, how often will your law firm appear on your behalf if it takes most of the day for the attorney to drive to the location and return to his office?