There’s nothing like a bad slip and fall to ruin your whole day. Not one that just gives you a few bruises, either. A serious slip and fall can cause you to fracture or break a bone, make a current injury worse, or even give you a concussion!
It’s not something to take lightly, and it’s not a situation you just have to accept fault for, either. If you recently slipped and fell while at work or in a public space, you may have the ability to create a legal case for yourself. This would give you access to compensation for medical bills and time off work you have to take due to your injury.
More so, it helps ensure that the responsible party creates better safety practices for people in the future. But, you need a slip and fall attorney to help you create and present your case.
Here are 5 things to do to make sure you get the best lawyer possible.
1. Ask What the Attorney Specializes In
Slip and fall cases are a little tricky because they can happen anywhere.
A college student may have fallen on the steps while walking to class or a mother could have fallen in a grocery store aisle. Children run and play all the time, and they usually fall doing so – but what if your child gets seriously injured in a public space?
These are just a few examples of the outlying conditions that can apply to a slip and fall case. No matter where you fell or how bad your injuries are, you need a slip and fall lawyer to handle the case – not a worker’s compensation lawyer or a personal injury attorney.
Such legal niches do have similar cases, but they’re not the exact same. You need someone who is highly experienced working with other slip and fall cases, not other kinds of injury cases.
They will have the best knowledge of slip and fall situations to help you understand if you have a case and how to go about handling it. You can read more here about how this process works.
2. Check to See if They’re Board Certified
This is an easy thing to check for, but it makes a big difference.
When a lawyer is board certified it means that they’ve gone above and beyond their line of work. They’re not just a decent lawyer with a license to practice; they’re a reputable, knowledgeable legal professional with the work history and recognition to prove it.
That’s the kind of person you want on your side when you find yourself in a courtroom. Even if your case doesn’t go to court, a board-certified attorney is a much better choice than some random guy/girl who passed the BAR.
3. Ask Him/Her About Their Success Rate
The next thing you want to check for is an attorney’s success rate. If they’re board-certified, they likely have a healthy track record of winning cases.
But if you’re comparing two board-certified slip and fall attorneys, it makes sense to hire the one with the highest success rate. As such, it’s in your best interest to bring this up.
This is also good because it’s an opportunity to get your potential lawyer talking. Although he/she can’t disclose specific details about previous cases, they can tell you how they typically approach a case and if they’ve had a case that is close in similarity to yours.
These are good signs. If an attorney just won a case of another person who slipped and fell in the same kind of setting as you, chances are he can win your case, too.
4. Read Client Reviews
No matter how well you and a certain attorney are getting along during a consultation, don’t commit to working together right away. Go home and read client reviews – both the ones on their website and on third-party platforms.
This gives you a full idea of what it would be like to be their client. It helps you understand how easy it will be to contact your attorney and it gives you a chance to learn how they really treat their clients.
Reviews tell you the good, the bad, and the ugly. They go beyond case winnings and court procedures and shed light on an attorney’s work ethic and level of customer service.
5. Talk to a Few Different Lawyers
Keep in mind that you need to follow all the steps above for more than one lawyer. You don’t want to settle on the first attorney you find. You want to take your time to compare all the slip and fall attorneys in your area in order to pick out the best one.
You’ll have to schedule a few different consultations and do a lot more research than if you were just looking into one lawyer’s ability to defend your case. It’s a bit of extra work on your end, but it creates the best possible outcome for your case.
Find a Slip and Fall Attorney in Your Area
Ready to find the ideal slip and fall attorney for you?
You better get to work! The sooner you start the search process and go through all the necessary steps, the faster you can get your case settled and (possibly) access the compensation you need.
This is also true if it’s not you who recently slipped and fell, but someone in your family or close circle of friends. You may need to step up and handle the search process for them if they have too much on their plate right now.
To make the search a lot easier, click here to find slip and fall attorneys in your local area.