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YOU'VE BEEN INJURED! WHAT SHOULD YOU DO?
Someone drove through a stop sign and hit you. Or you were thrown from the car when your husband fell asleep at the wheel. You remember the police and the ambulance, but not much else. And now you're in hospital.
The doctor tells you it's going to be a while before you can go back to work. Things look pretty bleak. What do you do?
The insurance adjuster wants to talk to you. So do the police. You wonder about telephoning a lawyer. But you don't know any. And lawyers are supposed to be expensive. The last thing you need right now is a legal bill.
Should you get legal advice? Will it cost you anything? And how do you find a lawyer with the right expertise?
Should You Get Legal Advice?
Absolutely. Get legal advice right away. Don't hesitate for one minute.
Why do you need legal advice right away? It's just common sense.
First, the insurance adjuster's primary obligation is to his insurance company, whether that company is I.C.B.C. or any other company. The adjuster's job is to minimize the amount of money the insurance company pays out. This is true whether you are completely innocent in causing the accident, or whether you contributed to the accident in some way. In fact, if you are completely innocent in causing the accident, the insurance adjuster is really acting for the person who injured you. The adjuster is not acting for you.
Second, while most of us are happy to talk to the police, particularly if we did not cause the accident, sometimes it's not possible to easily determine how the accident happened. And sometimes, for any of us, it is difficult to accurately reconstruct a traumatic event. A full and accurate statement might be absolutely critical later on. The police try to do the best job they can. But they do not represent you, nor do they represent anyone else.
Your lawyer is in your corner. Your lawyer's only duty is to you. He is under a legal and professional obligation to conduct your file in your interests only.
Doesn't it make sense to have someone in your corner? You bet it does! Not only is it common sense, your economic future might depend on it!
Will It Cost You Anything?
Almost every lawyer who does personal injury work will give you an initial free appointment. If you don't like the first lawyer, you can go to another one and you won't get a bill.
Once you settle on a lawyer to conduct your personal injury case, nine times out of ten you will not get a bill from that lawyer until your case is concluded and concluded successfully. In other words, if your case is lost, the lawyer gets no fee at all. (However, some lawyers, including many of the very best ones, ask their clients to pay disbursements such as long distance calls, photocopying, medical records charges, and so on as the file goes along - but almost always you will be reimbursed for these expenses when you win your case).
To summarize so far, your lawyer is in your corner. And you don't have to pay any fee for his services (perhaps just disbursements) unless and until he wins for you.
How Do You Find A Lawyer With The Right Expertise?
Let's be blunt. This is where things can go wrong.
In British Columbia, the legal profession does not have a system for certifying lawyers as experts in a particular field. Yet some lawyers are known to be highly skilled, experienced and successful in personal injury cases.
Believe it or not, at best only about 5% (one in twenty) of all lawyers in B.C. have the necessary and recognized skill and experience in consistently and successfully conducting major personal injury cases. The percentage is about the same here in the Kootenays: the number of lawyers in this area who have that kind of successful skill and experience can be counted on the fingers of one hand.
If you look at the ads in the Yellow Pages, you'd think that every second lawyer - maybe more - is a trial genius when it comes to personal injury work. It isn't so. The legal profession doesn't certify specialists, and it doesn't do much to control advertising either. Yellow Pages ads mostly set out what a lawyer or law firm would like to do - not necessarily what it has real and successful experience in. "Wannabe ads", they're sometimes called.
How do you find the right lawyer?
Word of mouth can be helpful, but it can also be misleading. Your best friend, who was injured last year and who likes his lawyer, may have picked the best lawyer around. Or he may have picked someone whose track record in personal injury is very limited. The point is that most lawyers try to be likeable, and the average lay person has no idea how to accurately judge his lawyer's real abilities.
But there are ways to tilt the odds in your favour when you go looking for a lawyer:
| 1. | Phone a prominent local lawyer (or two) who does not
do personal injury work and ask him to recommend two personal injury lawyers he
respects, at least one of which is from outside his firm. |
| 2. | Ask other professionals (doctors, accountants, etc.)
who often deal with lawyers to recommend someone. |
| 3. | People who work at the court house generally don't
feel able to suggest a name, but if you know someone who knows someone give this
a try; you might get lucky. |
| 4. | Usually two or three names will keep cropping up. Make appointments to see these lawyers and ask the right questions: |
(a) How long has the lawyer been in practice? (b) How long has he or she been doing personal injury work? (c) What percentage of the lawyer's practice consists of personal injury work? (d) What kinds of cases has the lawyer repeatedly handled, such as brain injuries, amputations, whiplash, etc.? (e) What experience does the lawyer have in actual trial work? (f) How successful has the lawyer been at trial? (g) Invite the lawyer to talk about the sort of cases he or she has handled. (h) Ask for references - good lawyers will be able to give you the names of solid respectable citizens and professionals (including other lawyers) who know their work.
| 5. | If you are not satisfied, go on to the next lawyer. But once you meet a lawyer who sounds right to you, trust him or her to conduct your case properly. Be open and frank and do what the lawyer asks you to do - and follow the advice you are given. |
Neil M. Robertson, Q.C. has handled major accident cases, involving cars, trucks, buses and motorcycles, for 25 years. He has repeatedly and successfully dealt with brain injuries, coma cases, fibromyalgia, complex fractures, spinal injuries and other severe and crippling problems. He has also handled significant whiplash cases (some whiplash victims have a permanent and serious disability).
Neil's practice is confined to litigation. His staff is experienced, friendly and helpful. His office is equipped with an extensive litigation-oriented library and has the latest computerized research and processing tools. Neil has never lost a personal injury case. References can be provided from across Southern British Columbia and Alberta.
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