I was on Reddit because I was curious what questions people have about finding the best lawyer for their case in Illinois. While some of the questions are a bit out there, there were a lot of good ones. This is one that I really liked.
What Should I Look For When Hiring An Illinois Personal Injury Attorney?
There was a lot of good advice from non-lawyers in there and some bad stuff to. Here are some things that I would tell a family member or friend, or you if you contacted us.
- Think of a doctor when hiring a personal injury lawyer. If you need a back surgery or are being treated for cancer, you want a doctor who focuses just on those types of cases. The same should be true for a lawyer. If they say they are an injury attorney, but their website shows they also do divorce or criminal defense, that is a red flag to me. They might be good, but you can find someone better.
- Look for someone who handles your type of case. This can mean a couple of things. If you are a victim of sexual abuse in Illinois, you want an attorney with a track record of success with those cases. You do not want to be one of the first cases an attorney has handled that has to do with that. And if it is something more common like a car accident, you want to make sure the firm you hire is right for your type of case. The most elite law firms are not going to assign their best attorneys to a case worth $50,000. You would be better off getting an experienced attorney who deals with that size case all the time. On the other hand, if you have a catastrophic injury and there is a lot of insurance available, there are probably ten or so law firms that are a good fit for you.
- What is their fee? A lot of law firms are trying to charge 40-45% for personal injury cases. That is crazy. You should not pay more than 33% of what is recovered unless there is something unusual about your case.
- Where are they based out of? One of the biggest developments of the last five years or so is out of state law firms opening up satellite offices in Illinois. They spend a ton of money on TV and billboard ads and give the impression that you are hiring the person in the commercial. The truth is that a lot of these firms are really based in places like Florida, Texas, Arizona, DC, New York and elsewhere. They hire local lawyers to handle the work, but the firm big wigs are not actually here. I strongly recommend against hiring one of these firms. We have had multiple legal malpractice calls about these places. Some of them are learning Illinois law on the fly and in our experience, you are not getting the best attorneys at the firm working on your case.
- Who will actually handle your case? With a lot of these out of state firms, they have out of state paralegals that are your actual point of contact. Even some Illinois personal injury law firms never let you actually talk to an attorney if you have questions. That is unacceptable. When talking to a law firm, ask who will handle your case day in and day out. If a lawyer is not your main point of contact it is a huge red flag.
- Find someone experienced, but not too experienced. Anyone can start their own law firm if they have a law license. Nothing against young people, but if a lawyer has less than ten years of experience, why would you hire them? You can get a more seasoned attorney for the exact same fee. At the same time, I would not hire an attorney who is in their late 70’s or beyond. Many of those attorneys are actually partially retired and of course you have to worry about health issues.
- Is there a provable track record of success? If you have a seven or eight figure value case, you would be nuts not to hire a law firm that has dozens of victories at least for similar amounts. You do not want to be the biggest case an attorney has ever had.
- Do they have any disciplinary issues? If a lawyer has been in trouble for unethical behavior, that is as big of a red flag as possible. Go to the ARDC website (the disciplinary body for Illinois attorneys) and check out a lawyer before you choose them. Not having any prior issues is not a guarantee, but it is certainly better than hiring an attorney who has stolen money from clients in the past.
- Is a good support system in place. Generally speaking, we do not recommend that you hire a lawyer who is trying to do everything on their own. If they do not have a great staff or other attorneys in place who can help them, what happens when that attorney is not available? If you have a major injury or complex case, you increase your chances of success with a firm that has more lawyers and resources for clients.
- Is there anything important to you? If you are looking for an attorney for your mom who was hurt in a car accident, but your mom only speaks Spanish, Serbian, etc., it is totally sensible that you would want a lawyer who also speaks that language. Otherwise you will always be the translator. There are plenty of great firms that have foreign speaking attorneys and only handle injury cases.
- How did you find out about them in the first place. Very sadly, if you are in a car accident, some Illinois personal injury attorneys will buy police reports or even pay off cops, EMT’s and nurses to hand out their business card. And even worse is that many of these firms will cold call you to try to get your business. That is highly unethical and gross. It gives all attorneys a bad name. And if someone will ignore ethics at the beginning of your case, you can bet they will during your case. In my opinion you should NEVER hire a law firm that does this.
What Things Do Not Matter When Hiring An Illinois Personal Injury Lawyer?
While this advice can vary depending on the case, generally speaking it is not important if:
- The lawyer has great reviews online. That does not hurt of course, but so many reviews are fake or bought.
- A friend suggested them. You would think that is a good thing, but more often than not we see well meaning friends suggesting lawyers who are not the right fit for the type of case you have.
- They are on TV. Personally that is a red flag for me. Not all, but many of the TV attorneys do not seem to do things the right way from what their unhappy clients have told us over the years.
- They are on a “Best of” list. About once a month or so, I get an email from a company that is offering that I can be chosen for a best of list and all I have to do is pay a small fee. Not all of these lists are scams, but none of them in my opinion are predictive of who is a good attorney for you and who is not.
- Their office is near you. One misconception people have is that if you hire an attorney, you will be meeting with them in person a lot. That is simply not true. And now with Zoom it happens even less than ever. It is way more important that your attorney be a great one than a close one. In other words, would you rather settle for $1 million with a lawyer up the street or $3 million with a firm that is an hour away? Focus on who can get you the best case result.
So How Do I Choose The Best Illinois Personal Injury Lawyer For Me?
This is why we exist. We started our website back in 2001 to help people get to the right lawyer for their unique case. Nobody pays us to recommend them. We give you the same advice we would give to a family member or friend.
If you would like a free case review and our opinion as to what law firm is right for your unique case, please call us any time at 312-346-5320. We cover all of Illinois and know and recommend amazing injury attorneys throughout the State.
