For the most part, a visit by a personal injury client is not the most common thing for a lawyer. But once that happens, you can be sure of the fact that you will need to find out whether he is the right person for the job. It is important not to hurry matters in this regard and take your time finding the car accident lawyer in West Palm Beach or wherever you are based.
Having said that, there are many mistakes that clients tend to make while claiming financial help in a car accident. A lot of them are very common mistakes that do not occur to most people out there. If not taken care of within the right time frame, you could very well end up wasting a considerable amount of time and money in the long run. Here are the top five mistakes to avoid:
Mistakenly assuming that the lawyer will always keep your case in mind:
Being one of the most common misconceptions around, it is time to dispel any doubts about this case once and for all. For starters, it would be worthwhile to note that a personal injury lawyer can very well have up to 200 clients to deal with at any given point of time. It all depends on how complex the cases are and how much help they have or need.
On that note, you need to ensure that you frequently engage with your lawyer in both a casual and work-related way. This is to prevent him from forgetting about you altogether. Plus, if he happens to have a ridiculously high number of cases to handle, it is unlikely that he will devote any time to your case. If this happens, consider switching to the services of another lawyer who has more time on their hands.
Afraid of asking too many questions:
The chances of this happening are a lot more common than you think. If any kind of question is ignored, it could very well turn into a problem later on in the case. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that making a personal injury claim is easy as things can get really complicated at a later stage. Hence, do not hesitate to ask all the queries you have about the process since explaining it to you is also part of the lawyer’s job.
Thinking that a compensation claim will be easy:
There are very few road accident cases where things are relatively straightforward and all the aspects can be viewed in black and white. In most other cases, things are not so easy to deal with and many shades of grey have to be dealt with. Not only do you have to think and discuss every single aspect extremely carefully, but one needs to explore the advantages and disadvantages of bringing a claim thoroughly. After all, there is no way you or your lawyer can know how the other side will end up approaching your claim.
Not keeping key evidence:
This will cost you dearly during the proceedings of the case. After the accident, the very first thing you need to do is gather the necessary evidence. Be it pictures on your mobile phone or even something you said to someone else. Even writing stuff down helps a great deal. Jot down all the necessary questions that you have in your mind and get all the paperwork sorted out. That is the only way to ensure that you have a strong and solid case.
The assumption that all law firms are the same:
This is probably the silliest assumption that one can have. After all, if this was the case, there wouldn’t be that many law firms out there. There are several aspects that you need to explore such as the integrity and experience of the firm, their business practices, the option of free legal advice and so on. Use word-of-mouth recommendations and the power of the Internet to the fullest in order to ensure that you get the best law firm of your choice. Absolutely no compromises can be made in this regard.
At the end of the day, you will need to keep the above five mistakes in mind at all times if you are to ensure that the entire process of making a good case and argument is as smooth and efficient as possible. There are no two ways about that, whatsoever.