Personal injury lawyers come in a variety of specialties. Some focus on asbestos poisoning, mesothelioma, mold, and other cases dealing with toxic environments. Some spend most of their careers looking at workers’ compensation law. Others focus on injuries resulting from accidents. You want to make sure you choose the correct attorney for your situation.
In the world of accident attorneys, Cincinnati has many respectable firms with long track records. How do you decide which Cincinnati lawyer is the best for your accident case?
Finding Cincinnati Accident Attorneys
For starters, you need to make sure you choose a lawyer you can trust. You need to be comfortable in their presence and feel at ease sharing your personal information — including, in many cases, medical records.
A Glowing Recommendation
Personal recommendations are an excellent place to start. If you have friends who have had accidents before, and have received compensation, they may feel confident recommending the accident attorneys in Cincinnati who took on their case. If they do not feel confident making that recommendation, it’s a solid cue to look elsewhere. People who win damages from injury cases should like and trust their lawyers — if they do not, it is a big red flag.
If you don’t know anyone who can give you a personal recommendation for a Cincinnati accident attorney, you can check out online reviews. Even Google can be a good place to start. Look for strongly positive, detailed reviews. There are also specific legal online rating guides. These guides are generally vetted by their members and are considered fair and reputable sources for evaluation and public reviews.
If you have worked with an attorney in another realm — say, having gone through a divorce or having dealt with a will or other legal documents — then you may want to ask that attorney for a referral. Attorneys tend to take their referrals very seriously and will not refer someone unless they feel very comfortable with that lawyer’s personality and track record. Across the Tri-State area and especially in downtown Cincinnati, accident attorneys all tend to know each other. The professional organizations for lawyers are vibrant and well-attended in this area, and many of these attorneys are arguing their cases before the same judges and in the same courtrooms.
Searching on the Web
Perusing the websites of various accident attorneys in Cincinnati will also yield good information. Sure, you should take each site with a grain of salt because it is effectively an advertisement by and for that firm, but the details on the website will still contain valuable information that can help you make an informed decision. A quick Internet search will yield plenty of results, and you can likely find reputable accident attorneys in Cincinnati this way.
The Ohio State Bar Association can assist you as well, as can the Cincinnati Bar Association. These associations can confirm which attorneys are members in good standing, and they can also usually tell you which attorneys have been members for several years — in some cases, these lawyers have held leadership positions or have served as advocates for the association. These professional associations do a lot of work in legal ethics and have a strong ethical code to which each member must agree and sign on. Membership in such an organization is a strong sign that the attorney takes his or her ethical obligations seriously.
Ask Questions and Meet in Person
You want to feel comfortable with the accident attorney in Cincinnati that you choose to work with. You want to feel like they thoroughly answer all of your questions, and that they care about you, your concerns, and your case. You’ll only really get this feeling by meeting with them, so make an appointment for a consultation.
More than anything, your Cincinnati accident attorney needs strong negotiating skills. It is these skills which may ultimately decide how large of a settlement you are able to receive. The majority of accident injury cases are resolved out of court, through careful negotiation. Those cases that do go to trial make up only a minority of accident lawsuits. It can be hard to gauge how your attorney will fare in a negotiation or in a courtroom fight, but you can get a sense of this when you’re talking with them, and you can also ask them about their negotiation and courtroom experience.
Here at Clements, Taylor, Butkovich & Cohen, our Cincinnati accident attorneys are masterful negotiators. We are tough-minded negotiators that can fight to maximize the financial settlement you deserve. For a free consultation, contact us today to see if we’re a good fit for you.