The actual process of hiring a personal injury lawyer can feel stressful. Here is what you can expect with Derek Wilson Law. Most Lincoln personal injury lawyers have a similar process.

1. Make The Call

First you must email or call your prospective lawyer to talk about your case.  The point of this is to help us determine whether or not you have a case and if so, it is something we can handle (not every lawyer deals with every type of case). The best way to do this is to answer the questions as posed by someone on our legal team as it will help us to determine how to best direct you.  This is not the time for actual legal advice because we don’t have enough info for that, but it will determine if it makes sense to bring you into the office for a more formal conversation.

2.  An Office Visit

An office visit is preferred (but we can come to you as well if you are not mobile) because by meeting face to face you get a sense of how we work because we will be working closely together for long period of time (unfortunately, personal injury cases have long timelines). You will also get to meet my team as they will handle many of the administrative tasks. This personal approach is what our clients love because we treat you as a critical team member so we want to be able to put a face to the names and vice versa. We’ll also be asking you alot of questions along the lines of how you’re feeling, what’s going on with you/your life/your injury and any actions you’ve taken to date.  After that, we will decide if it makes sense to move forward. Either way, it’s my job to make sure that you are crystal clear about what I can and can’t do, how things work, and what we each need to do to make your case successful, should we move forward.

3. Sign the Retainer

Finally, if there is a case, our legal team will walk through how the actual process works. It is important that our clients take the advice given to heart. It means acting on it and following through on everything.

You should also know that personal injury lawyers only get paid if their clients get paid. This is a true partnership. Expectations will be set and it will be very clear on how we can help you and how you can help us. If this is satisfactory to both parties, a retainer will be signed because they give me the ability to contact others in your name to collect more information so that I can build your case.

Whether to sign a retainer is 100% up to you.  There should never be pressure. If, by the way, a lawyer pressures you sign a retainer, consider it a red flag.  But in terms of our relationship, this is the point where I continue researching and advising for you only if you are my client.

Lastly, if you do sign the retainer, no money is exchanged.  This is a big area where most (although not all) personal injury lawyers differ from their counterparts in other areas of law. Personal injury lawyers get paid a portion of the settlement they negotiate for their clients. So you see, it truly is a partnership where we win together.

Now that you know exactly what will happen next, feel free to contact us at 905-769-0418 or email us today!