First Steps in a Personal Injury Case in Va
They can expect to get a phone call from us, to introduce ourselves, get on the same page, and make sure that our goals are aligned. The biggest thing is that we need to know what they want. Sometimes people have a matter of principle in mind, sometimes people have a dollar figure in mind, sometimes people don’t know [what they want]. In order to be an effective advocate, you have to know what a client’s goals are, what their expectations are, and sometimes you need to have a very frank conversation to temper expectations. Hollywood and the media have a huge influence on people’s perceptions and, like we discussed about contributory negligence, what people think might be a blockbuster case may not be so in Maryland, Virginia, and DC, so the biggest thing is to get on the same page.
Explaining What Someone Can Expect
We make sure we understand where we’re going and what we’re working for, and that our interests are aligned. We find out the nature and extent of their injuries, what treatment has been sought or recommended, and if they need additional treatment or are unhappy with the treatment they have been receiving, we can help out there as well. We’ll always tell every client that no lawyer’s judgment is a substitute for a physician’s judgment. You’ve got to follow your doctor’s orders and we’ll make sure that if they have medical questions, their physician can help them figure out the answers. If they have legal questions, we’ll answer those, but once the attorney-client relationship is forged, from that point on it’s an active process. We always prefer that our clients have more questions and be more involved. We take an individualized approach. We really tailor our representation to the individual client.
We think that’s one of the pluses of having a medium sized law firm as opposed to a very large personal injury shop or a solo practice. We’re a happy medium right in the middle where we’ve got the resources of a bigger firm, but we have the individual attention of a smaller firm and we know every client by name…Being able to pay for experts, demonstrative exhibits for trial, or extensive investigations, those are things that we can do…, but at the same time, we never forget who we’re working for…, which does also bring up the question of fees.
Contingency Fee Basis
We handle all of our cases on a contingency basis, so the most important part for the client to keep in mind is that we don’t take any fees unless we obtain a recovery for them, so they know that we are fighting for them but that they’re not going to have to pay us anything out of their pocket. We really do want to represent them to our fullest. Zealous advocacy is the name of the game.