Life is unpredictable. One day, you may get stuck with a legal case, which will need you to hire a qualified attorney to represent you and help you win the case.
Unfortunately, choosing the right attorney is not an easy job. Many people often make multiple very common mistakes when hiring an attorney, which often costs them their rightful compensation or the case.
What are those common mistakes?
Well, let’s find out.
Not Researching More Attorneys
Have you ever watched a TV ad where an attorney hit just the pain points and emotions to get you to contact them?
However, ads can be deceiving. These days, it’s easy for any attorney or law firm to spend money to oversell themselves on TV or other ad media.
Unfortunately, ads don’t do the fact checks for their viewers. Any attorney can claim to solve your case, even before giving your case files a proper look.
Don’t fall for such gimmicks. Eye-catching ads won’t help you win cases—only the real, experienced attorneys will.
So, expand your search options. Check the ratings of each Atlanta lawyer and law firm, and read the reviews of their previous clients carefully. You can even go through the website of the attorney to check their track record.
For example, Simon Bridgers Spires, a renowned personal injury law firm based in Atlanta, has a 4.9-star rating on Google with many positive reviews. So, if you need an experienced lawyer for your personal injury case, contact our Atlanta attorneys today.
Not Thinking About the Attorney’s Expertise
If you need to undergo cardiac surgery, will you contact a neurosurgeon? Of course, you won’t. Instead, you will look at a cardiac surgeon who has both the experience and expertise to perform successful heart surgery.
The same goes for your attorney. If you need an attorney to help you win a personal injury case, you shouldn’t be hiring a lawyer who has only studied family law.
Look for the lawyers who have relevant legal expertise. Ideally, the attorney of your choice should have solved cases similar to yours in the past.
This way, you can hire the attorney with the right area of expertise, which will boost your chances of achieving a positive outcome.
Not Asking the Right Questions Before Hiring
When an attorney interviews you about the case, you can also interview the attorney and the law firm behind them.
You can ask them about their firm’s experience with handling past cases similar to yours. You can ask how they managed them or if they managed to obtain a positive outcome.
Don’t forget to ask questions that are tied specifically to your present case. For example, you can ask them about the possible strategies they would use to help you win the case, should they really work with you.
By asking the right questions, you can successfully hire a qualified attorney within your budget.
Hiring a Specific Attorney as a Favor
Never, never blindly hire an attorney recommended by your neighbor or relative to represent your case, just to do a favor for them.
Your relatives, friends, or neighbors may bombard you with endless recommendations when they hear about your legal needs.
The grandma next door may endorse her grandson, who practices law. Your friend may recommend that you hire his nephew, who has just passed the bar exam. Your relatives may also have someone they would like to recommend.
Well, they probably don’t mean any harm. But their recommended lawyers may not be the right choice.
So, don’t just hire a lawyer as a favor. You have a serious case to win, after all. Always analyze your needs, the complexity of the case, and the attorney’s experience and legal expertise before making a hiring decision.
Thinking That You Don’t Have the Means for Legal Representation
Never compromise when hiring an attorney who would represent you, just because of the talks and complaints you hear about the hiring costs.
Yes, hiring an experienced lawyer can be expensive. But many lawyers and law firms have taken numerous measures to make legal help accessible to everyone.
For example, law firms these days may arrange the payment of attorney fees in a specific way to make it affordable to most people. Many personal injury attorneys only accept a small cut from the settlement money you receive after you win the case.
So, go ahead and hire the lawyer of your choice. Don’t compromise just because you think you don’t have the means for legal representation.
Conclusion
Choosing the right attorney can often be the very factor that determines whether you can win the case or walk away empty-handed.
And more often than not, people usually make one of these five common mistakes when hiring attorneys that negatively impact their case.
To avoid making these mistakes, you need to:
- Research about the Atlanta lawyers and law firms properly
- Hire an attorney who has the relevant legal expertise
- Avoid hiring unknown lawyers as a favor
- Conduct a proper interview to see if the attorney is suitable to handle your case
Do this, and you can hire a reliable attorney in Atlanta for your next legal case.