Questions to Ask Your Personal Injury Attorney

The following are the best questions for a civil claimant to ask an attorney.

Are you a board certified civil trial lawyer?

Yes. The Florida Bar has established a board certification program to help people find a lawyer who has demonstrated ability and experience in a particular specialized field of law. The program also improves competence by requiring continuing legal education within the specialty field.

To become board certified, a lawyer must pass a written examination to test his knowledge in the specialized area. He must also demonstrate to The Florida Bar that he has substantial experience in the specialized area. He must complete specially approved continuing education courses and must also have his ability and experience in the specialty favorably evaluated by judges and other lawyers who are familiar with his work.

The Haverman Law Firm is proud to have received this certification from The Florida Bar as Civil Trial Law Specialists.

Do you specialize in civil trial cases?

If the answer to the first question was no, the lawyer cannot claim to be a specialist in this field. Only lawyers who are board certified by the Florida Bar may claim to be specialists in the field. It is a violation of our professional ethics for a lawyer who has not obtained board certification to claim to be a specialist in any field.

Are you going to refer my case to some other firm?

No. Some of the most prolific advertising lawyers handle only a small number of the cases they accept. Instead they refer cases out to different law firms and receive a significant portion of the fees as the "secondary" or "referring" law firm. Under this system, the original attorney is sometimes only a broker. It is often not favorable to the client, who finds himself with lawyers he may not know, handling his case for less than the full compensation he is paying.

Does your firm represent insurance companies?

Many law firms attempt to represent both insurance companies and injured people who have claims against insurance companies. Unless the insurance company is the same one in both cases, there is usually nothing illegal or impermissible about this practice.

However, there are times when a client's interests require a position to be taken about the law that is opposed by the entire insurance industry. Precedent set in one case can detrimentally affect all insurance companies with cases of that type pending. That puts a lawyer who tries to handle both sides of liability claims in a difficult position. He knows that winning the case for one injured client could hurt his insurance company clients on many, many other open cases.

That is a problem we avoid in our firm by simply refusing to represent insurance companies in cases against injured people.

How will I pay for this?

Lawyers can be expensive! The Haverman Law Firm handles many cases based on non-contingent hourly fees, calculated upon the amount of time the case requires, billed monthly. However, we know that many people need us most at a time when they can least afford us. A serious accident, with medical bills and missed work, can financially devastate a family.

Because of this, we offer contingent fees, set as a percentage of the recovery, if there is one. If there is no recovery, there will be no fee. Under this arrangement, we also advance money for court costs and litigation expenses which does not have to be repaid unless there is a recovery. Many clients prefer this alternative because it helps protect their cash flow, it helps share the risk on difficult cases, and some clients feel secure knowing their lawyer has a financial incentive to maximize their recovery.

At our firm, the choice of billing methods is strictly decided by the client.

How much experience have you had conducting actual trials of large civil cases?

Don't be afraid to ask. You may be surprised! The overwhelming majority of cases, especially smaller ones it seems, are settled before trial. The result is that many "trial lawyers" have spent shockingly little time in the courtroom.

An out-of-court settlement is usually much better for the client than a trial, which introduces stress, risks, and expenses. However, if the other side is adamant or unreasonable, it is important to know that your attorney does have the experience to capably present your case to an impartial jury and achieve the result you deserve.

Sometimes you need to convince the insurance company that you are willing to take your case to trial in order to obtain a fair settlement. That threat is much more credible if it comes from an attorney whom the insurance company knows has a good record of previous trial success.

One of the requirements to become a board certified civil trial lawyer is significant demonstrated actual courtroom experience in civil trial cases. Insist on it.