When you have been involved in an accident – whether a car accident, an incident at work, or a slip and fall – you may need to seek legal representation. However, after such a traumatic event, you’ll want to be sure that you have the right attorney. This involves more than simply finding the biggest law firm, or hiring the attorney that has the most prominent billboard in town. You’ll need to find an attorney who has experience in your type of case, but also one whose personality is right for the job. If you don’t have any experience with hiring an attorney, you may need a bit of guidance in spotting red flags which could make your experience more difficult than it needs to be. After all, your attorney should make your situation easier to bear – not more stressful.
Promising Too Much
The stereotype is well known – the slick talking attorney who says whatever needs to be said to gain a new client. It’s true, some personal injury attorneys have been known to exaggerate their claims to persuade someone to hire them for a case. One way to know you may be dealing with an overzealous attorney is if he or she guarantees the outcome of your case or gives you a “guaranteed” dollar amount they can secure for you. While it is true that an experienced attorney will understand precedent and be able to tell you what your chances are, no one can positively guarantee an outcome. A good attorney will review the merits of your case with you, explain the possible strategies, and honestly share their professional opinion as to the likelihood of success.
Behaving Badly
A rude attorney may explain away their behavior as “aggressive” or “tough” – positioning their bad manners as a positive for your victory. However, it is a red flag if your attorney is disinterested in your case, gets easily frustrated with you, shows up late for meetings or hearings, or is rude to the people in the office. If these situations occur, you may need to keep looking for an attorney. If the empathetic and understanding attorney you hired has become short-tempered and inattentive, it is always within your right to terminate your agreement with them.
Communication Issues
If you have retained a law firm to represent you, but you can reach them – you need to get to the root of the problem. Some red flags may seem obvious but have rational explanations, and communication can be one of them. At your initial consultation, you’ll want to set expectations for communication. While you may be anxious and require constant feedback, remember this – you will be charged for every contact with your attorney. An attorney may be working diligently on your case, but is saving you money by not reporting in with every detail. Therefore, establish what your frequency and method of communication will be, and trust them to do their job. However, if you are frantically texting, emailing and calling with new information and are receiving no response – you have the right to consider poor communication among attorney red flags.
Conflicts of Personality
Personality conflicts do not mean that either party is wrong or bad. You may simply be incompatible. Not every attorney – no matter how smart, effective and ethical – will have a personality that matches with yours, and that’s ok. You can often figure this out during a consultation, so be honest with yourself and the attorney you are speaking with. Red flags arise during all types of professional relationships, but the high emotion of a legal case can amplify problems more dramatically.
Probinsky & Cole are experienced personal injury and immigration attorneys with offices in Tampa, Orlando and Sarasota.
