In the US, around 52% of personal injury cases arise from motor vehicle accidents.
About 39% of these cases are unsuccessful and a considerable number of them end up with an unsatisfactory settlement. The reason for that? Not having the right personal injury lawyer.
If you’re wondering what makes an excellent accidents lawyer, here’s a look into the essential traits one should possess:
1. Empathy
A lawyer that is sensitive to your suffering can better understand the motivation behind your actions and therefore figure out the best way of communicating the important matters with you.
This is a skill that, like any other, can be developed over time. However, it’s always better if your lawyer is genuinely compassionate and truly cares about what you’re going through.
If you’d like to get in touch with lawyers who take the promise of handling their cases with compassion seriously and can truly deliver on that promise, check this out.
If you feel understood, validated and respected, you’re more likely to feel at ease during legal consultations. This will likely result in your lawyer being able to obtain as much relevant information about the case, as soon as possible.
Ultimately, you’ll want to choose a lawyer who’s approachable and with whom you can get along because you’ll be working together for mutual success, for a considerable amount of time.
2. Story-telling
Words are a lawyer’s strongest weapon, whether they’re writing legal documentation or representing your case in the courtroom. Sometimes the circumstances of your case will work in your favor and other times, they will work against you.
Your lawyer’s ability to paint a picture with words can considerably affect your chances of winning the case.
This consequently means you’ll want someone who’s had plenty of experience with litigation, as well as someone who’s got the power of convincing others into their perspective.
A lawyer who is a good story-teller will be able to effectively present all the relevant facts of the case, correlate them to relevant consequences and most importantly, they’ll be able to convince the judge that you deserve compensation for the injury suffered by asking the defendant the right questions during the examination.
3. Objectivity and transparency
These two traits go hand in hand.
An objective lawyer is capable of anticipating counterarguments to his own arguments. They are less likely to be influenced by a third party or lose touch with reality when listening to the stories loaded with emotions.
You should never forget that a lawyer should act in your interest. An experienced lawyer can likely tell when you’re telling them lies or not giving them a whole picture.
If they don’t call you out on this, that’s a bad sign. A lawyer who doesn’t know the whole truth about your accident might run into issues during the hearing when your opponent shines a light on new, unfavorable information.
In the end, you want to be informed about the strengths and weaknesses of your case, as well as given a realistic estimate of all the possible outcomes.
That is the only way for you to make an educated decision on whether you should continue pursuing your case and it is a great way to deduce whether your lawyer is passionate about their work or are they all about the money.
4. Negotiating
If a lawyer wants to maximize their leverage, persuade others to believe a certain narrative or have control over the negotiation process, they must have great negotiation skills.
A good negotiator will be able to handle shark insurance providers, prevent unnecessary delays in your case and they might be able to solve your case without going to court. This might end up saving you a lot of time and money.
Alternatively, if your case has a lot of weaknesses, your lawyer might still be able to get you a nice settlement if they’re skilled at negotiating and determined enough.
5. Experience
When we say experience, we mean someone who’s not only had a lot of experience with accident cases, but also someone who’s got a fairly high success rate.
Your ideal lawyer will have handled a variety of these cases, but they’d still approach each new case as it is their first one, without the arrogant stance of “I’ve done this a thousand times, you don’t have to worry about a thing.”
No good lawyer will give you guarantees, regardless of how much work they’ve done. They’ll acknowledge that the circumstances of your case are different and unique and therefore deserve a unique approach and the same amount of effort, as well as time as any of their prior cases.
So what do you want to see in your lawyer?
You want to see them driven and you want to see them engaged. Lawyers like that will usually be respected and regarded as credible and honorable by judges, colleagues and their clients. You’ll usually be able to find a lot of useful information about them online, too.