While hiring a lawyer, there are times when you would face problems during the legal proceedings. It happens in most cases when the lawyer is not adequate to fight your case. In instances of personal harm like a car accident or even something as small as a slip and fall in the hospital, you need proper representation to get you your due claim compensation.
A lot of people make mistakes and end up being cheated or unfairly treated by defendants or lawyers due to misrepresentation. The 8 most common blunders they make are:
Lack of proper knowledge on lawyer’s end
Hiring a lawyer who does not have adequate knowledge regarding the case or its background will affect your case.
If it is a hospital slip and fall case in California, for example, you must seek a lawyer who knows the rules and regulations of California and follows them diligently while building your case.
A restricted and generalized approach
Some lawyers or companies tend to let the case be seen from a general approach as if there are templates to follow for these kinds of cases.
There needs to be a personalized approach to each case, and personal attention should be given. This is to ensure that your case can be seen for what it is, not just a part of the herd and be misread.
Improper use of resources
Proper resources, both in terms of money and knowledge, help your case move forward with ease.
Lawyers claim to have invested resources in your case, but most of them state so in order to inflate the bill. Most of them do not have either of the resources to invest appropriately.
Being under-prepared
Having proper knowledge as a complainant is also important. When you are registering a complaint, you should be well aware of what all factually happened and what are just parts of your assumption.
This will also help you analyze what questions will be asked by the defendant attorney and in what context.
Not discussing all payments before-hand
Some lawyers tend to hide payments in fine print or just don’t mention it until much later. The payment structure and the conditions should be clear from the very beginning to confirm the resources you need to represent your case.
Check if you are able to afford that lawyer. Reputed lawyers might charge a little higher, but never hide payments for profit.
Inadequacy of time
This one is a simple mistake that isn’t easily detectable, but one can always try. Some lawyers swamp themselves with work and then are not able to perform the due diligence and devote the time the case requires so that it can progress in your favor.
This mostly happens because more cases mean more money, and most of them put profit over justice.
Background-check
Run background checks yourself. Even though you cannot be fully prepared in all cases, try to put together as much information as possible about both the case and the lawyers.
Use referrals wherever you can, but do not trust them blindly. Be ready and do your homework so that you can get yourself the representation and compensation you deserve.
Not meeting in person
Even referrals need to be met in person. You should not be pawned off to a law student unsupervised or another lawyer altogether on the day of the final hearing.
You can be cheated in a sense where the person turns out to be a fraud in any other way whatsoever. Meeting in person is one of the best ways to judge a lawyer and know the legitimacy.
