Articles Posted in Hiring a Lawyer

I went to meet with a lawyer about my personal injury case.  He wants my case, but he works all by himself – no assistant, no secretary, and no other lawyer?  Is this something I should consider in determining who to hire as my personal injury lawyer?

Yes.   Lawsuits of any size are a team effort, and each person in the office plays an important role in helping preparing the case and maximizing the recovery for the client. Thus, you should look at the other lawyers and staff in the office and determine whether they can work as a team to help you with your case.

On our larger cases we almost always have two or more lawyers working on every case. Why? Assigning two or more lawyers to every case means that if one lawyer is busy in trial or is out-of-state taking depositions in other cases work can still be done on your case.

I am looking for a lawyer and some of them say that they are members of various bar associations.  Is that important?

Many lawyers advertise that they are members of the Tennessee Bar Association, the American Bar Association, and / or their local bar association. Mere membership in these organizations tells consumers virtually nothing about a lawyer’s competence – all one needs to join these organizations is a law license and the money to pay the dues.

However, active membership in a bar association tends to indicate that the lawyer is interested in advancement of his or her profession. This is a relevant factor to be weighed by consumers because at a minimum it indicates a passion for the law. A lawyer who has been active in bar associations will list those activities on his or her website. Those that do not list activities probably have not been active and are probably just dues-paying members.

What does it mean when a lawyer is “board certified?”

A.  Just like doctors can be “board certified” in surgery or pediatrics or a large number of other specialties, lawyers can choose to seek board certification in several different areas in the law.

There are several civil trial certifications available in Tennessee – civil trial specialist, medical malpractice, legal malpractice and family. A civil trial specialist must (a) have a demonstrated level of experience in trying civil cases; (b) pass a written examination  that covers certain aspects of civil law, evidence, and ethics; (c) receive positive recommendations from judges and attorneys that he or she has tried cases against; (d) have a good  disciplinary history.  The attorney applies for civil trial and family trial certification with the National Board of Trial  Advocacy, a division of the National Board of Legal Specialty Certification.  Medical and legal trial certification is available from another group.

I have a personal injury case that was just settled.  I agreed to pay a contingent fee and the lawyer’s out of pocket expenses.  One of the expenses is a first class airline ticket from Nashville to Atlanta for a deposition – at the cost of $1500!  Can the lawyer charge me for that expense?

You should contest the charge, but at the end of the day what will happen will depend on the exact language of the contract, your persistence, and the lawyer’s conscious.

There is nothing legally wrong with the contract providing that the lawyer gets to fly first class at your expense.  If that is what you agreed to do then you are legally on the hook.

I was hurt in a car wreck and need to hire a Tennessee personal injury attorney.  I came across this thing called AVVO.  They have a rating system for lawyers.   Should the AVVO rating system have any impact on who I hire as my lawyer?

It should have some influence, but not necessarily in the way that you think.  

AVVO is about 2 years old.  It claims to have established a brief profile for every lawyer.  A lawyer "claims" his or her own profile and adds data.  AVVO then establishes a rating for the lawyer based on certain criteria it developed.   A lawyer does have to pay to appear on the site, although some lawyers pay to have ads placed on the site.  However, the basic placement (like mine, shown here) is free. The lawyers listed to the right of my profile paid to be appear on the page, although they too have a free profile.

I was looking on the Internet for a personal injury  lawyer and I see some lawyers say that they are members of the "American Association for Justice."   What does that mean?

The American Association for Justice is a voluntary, national bar association that is made up of lawyers who tend to represent persons who were hurt in car wrecks,  hurt by defective problems, or hurt by poor medical care.   The state affiliate of the national group is the Tennessee Association for Justice.  Like the  Tennessee Bar Association, the American Bar Association, and  various other "associations," ,ere membership in these organizations tells consumers virtually nothing about a lawyer’s competence – all one needs to join these organizations is a law license and the money to pay the dues.

However, active membership in a bar association tends to indicate that the lawyer is interested in advancement of his or her profession. This is a relevant factor to be weighed by consumers because it indicates a passion for the law. A lawyer who has been active in bar associations will list those activities on his or her website. Those that do not list activities probably have not been active and are probably just dues-paying members.

I was hurt in a boating  accident. I talked to a lawyer and he sent me a proposed contingency fee agreement.  The agreement says that I have to pay the expenses he incurs in prosecuting my case and that interest accrues on the expense money.  Is that normal?

It is normal for an attorney  handling a contingency fee case to ask the client to re-pay the attorney for the money spent on case expenses out of any settlement achieved in the case.  It  is not normal, however, for an attorney to charge interest on the expense money they advance for case expenses, although it seems like more and more attorneys are doing it.    

The lawyers who charge interest may have a contract with a private company that charges them interest on case expenses, and then the attorney passes the interest that he or she pays while the case is pending onto you as their client.  The interest rate may be very high – much higher than the “prime rate.”  The lawyer does not profit from this practice, but simply passes the cost of the interest on to you.  Sometimes there are additional fees associated with this service that are passed on to you.

I was hurt in a car wreck.  How do I find the best lawyer to help me with my case? 

We have written a guide to help you understand the factors you should consider in determining who you should hire as a personal injury lawyer.  Read it here.