Dealing with the aftermath of birth complications can be difficult, and the process of choosing the best birth injury attorney to handle your specific case can seem daunting. However, if you take a step back and consider the following factors when trying to pick the best birth injury attorney for your family’s needs, the process will become more simplified and streamlined.
Do your research
It’s important to thoroughly vet any candidates you may be considering to help you with a potential birth injury litigation. Many parents who have pursued birth injury litigation ended up finding their lawyers through some of the following methods:
* Searching on social media or Google
* Asking coworkers, friends, and family for recommendations for attorneys
* Contacting a lawyer with whom they have worked previously concerning a different legal issue
* Responding to an ad found on a billboard, in a publication, online, or on the radio
Once you have found a candidate you think looks promising, it’s time to start asking them the necessary questions that should be asked in order to proceed with requesting their services.
1. Questions about experience
You ideally want your lawyer to have experience in this field of cases. This is important so that your lawyer will understand what is at stake for you and your family, and will also understand the intricacies of the policies, protocols, and precedents surrounding birth injury litigation.
You might want to ask questions such as these to determine whether your chosen lawyer has an adequate level of experience to deal with your case:
* How long have you been handling cases of birth injury?
* How many of these birth injury cases have been handled to completion by you and your team?
* How many of those cases were settled before a trial took place?
* How many of those cases were tried to a verdict?
* How many of those cases were dismissed?
* If any of those cases were dismissed, why were they dismissed?
Another good question to ask is whether your lawyer has represented any children whose parents are physicians or attorneys. This is a good indicator of whether a lawyer is qualified: if physicians and attorneys trust their case with this lawyer, it most likely means they are qualified to fight for your case.
2. Questions about knowledge
In addition to experience with cases themselves, it’s important to know how involved your chosen birth injury attorney is in the field of birth injury litigation. In this vein, you might want to ask them questions about their involvement in this field, like the following:
* Have you written any articles or books on the subject of birth injury law?
* Have you ever given any presentations to physicians, surgeons, hospitals, or other attorneys on the topic of birth injury law?
* Could you send me a copy of your professional biography or resumé?
* Have you ever been given an award or any recognition for your practice of birth injury law?
The best birth injury lawyers are the ones who exclusively practice and work in this field of law and have a great deal of experience and successful cases under their belts. These lawyers often work on a contingency fee agreement, which means that you will pay nothing to them unless you win your birth injury case.
It is probably best to be wary of lawyers who do not offer this contingency fee agreement for this sort of case.
3. Questions about collaboration
Asking whether your lawyer collaborates on their birth injury litigation cases can give you an idea of who else to ask to give you character and qualitative references for them in the field of birth injury law. Asking questions like these can help you figure this out:
* Do you collaborate with a team on birth injury cases, or do you work alone?
* If you work with a team, who is on that team?
* If you work with a team, what is the experience level of each team member in the field of birth injury law?
