What Are Effective Ways to Communicate With a Personal Injury Lawyer?

Be wary of any advice received from someone who is not familiar with your case.

Anything a friend, family member, or a different lawyer tells you should be taken with a grain of salt. All cases are different.

If you have a question or are wondering what is going on with your case, just pick up the phone and ask.

Don’t wait to get to a boiling point to reach out to your lawyer. Litigation is a slow process and often much time will go by before your lawyer needs to call you. Don’t work yourself up wondering what is going on with your case waiting for your lawyer to call and tell you – just pick up the phone.

Tell your lawyer the whole story about your case.

Even if there are things about your situation that you think might not be great for your case

1. It’s probably not
2. your lawyer will be able to help you much more with the benefit of knowing any potentially harmful information and
3. they call it attorney-client privilege for a reason.

If the worst thing that happened to you is that you didn’t get good sleep for a few weeks, please don’t call in the first place.

Nobody is going to feel sorry for you and no jury is going to want to award you any money.

Effective communication with your PI attorney is key to a successful relationship and outcome.  The goal of the PI attorney is to assist a client in obtaining compensation for a loss that the client has gone through due to the actions or inaction of another responsible party.  When an attorney first meets with a client, the attorney has to make sure that the client has a justiciable claim.  Justiciability is a basic checklist to see if a claim can be brought against another party and by extension against their insurance carrier.

The client has to convey three basic points:

1. that an injury in fact exists;
2. they themselves are the injured party; and
3. there are no defenses

For this information the client needs to effectively communicate this basic information effectively.  To do that, the client needs to bring documentation and a clear understanding of the timeline of the facts.  Documentation is the most effective means by which an attorney can collect objective data.  Examples of such documentation is an accident report, an insurance policy, an email, or other records.  

A clear timeline is an excellent way to convey to an attorney exactly what happened.  Oftentimes, attorneys find themselves having trouble following the client’s perception of the facts.  A timeline is a brief, point by point, description of what occurred based on chronology.  Start with the first thing, then follow in order, each material fact.  For example, 9:01 the car hit me.  9:09 the ambulance arrived, 9:15 I was put in the ambulance.  Very basic information like this will save time and make our job of getting you the greatest compensation even more effective.

Other effective communication methods include email.  Electronic communication provides attorneys a record to turn to later in time when we are able to address a specific issue or request. Phone calls can be tricky because, our support staff may have a different interpretation of your statements than we the attorneys do.  Therefore, to reduce the risk of information being affected in some way, write to your attorney or their support staff in an email.  It will help all parties to communicate.

Lastly, scan, email, fax, send letters–documentation and communication in all of its forms should be encouraged.  Objective data is paramount.  Clear understanding of the facts and what your expectations are of the attorney will help make the professional relationship a success!

Attorneys are in the service industry, so they are typically good at communicating with clients. However, clients may wonder how to effectively communicate with lawyers so that their wants and needs are properly conveyed. Here are some tips on how to effectively communicate with a personal injury lawyer.

Organize Your Thoughts

After a personal injury accident, you may be shaken up and confused. It’s best to communicate clear information by being organized. This may require you to write down what you want to say and practice speaking with a friend or family member.

State What You Want Clearly

Personal injury attorneys will want to help you achieve your goals. Let them know exactly what you want and need so they can help you obtain it.

Read Your Written Communication

If you are emailing your attorney or sending a letter, re-read what you have written. This will let you know if the information is clear and understandable.

Ask Questions

Your personal injury lawyer has a wealth of knowledge about your case. Ask as many questions as you have to allow you to understand the situation.

Personal injury lawyers, such as ours at Staver Accident Injury Lawyers, P.C. can help you through a difficult time. Communicate clearly to achieve your wants and needs.

Communication with your Personal Injury Lawyer requires openness, patience, and understanding from both you and your lawyer. You hired your lawyer not only to represent your interests, but also to answer your questions, give advice and help guide you through the process.

Personal Injury Lawyers truly are Counselors at Law, because they are called on to help you through a time when you are injured, in pain, and may be unable to work or even just do the things you need to do in your day-to-day life. Ultimately, while you are going through one of the hardest moments of your life, a Personal Injury Lawyer is guiding you through the processes and worries.

So, when you are sharing your questions and issues with your attorney, the most important thing you can do is to be honest and provide all the information necessary. This openness will allow your lawyer to provide the best help possible. Further, it will allow your lawyer to properly plan for any issues that may arise. Hiding things you think might not help your case instead makes it impossible for your lawyer to do their job and get you the recovery you deserve.

As things change, keeping your attorney up to date on your treatment and health is another crucial aspect of effectively communicating with your personal injury lawyer. Lastly, part of being honest also involves letting your attorney know if you are unclear or do not understand any part of the case or process. Otherwise, you are not getting the advice and guidance you need to get through your personal injury case.

First, you should make sure that you have the kind of case that would interest a personal injury lawyer. Accident and injury attorneys can only help those who have suffered an real injury. Therefore, if you had vehicle damage, but not bodily injury, personal injury lawyers cannot help you.

On the other hand, if you had serious vehicle damage, and have any pain, then you should first (and quickly) be evaluated by a doctor, and also consult with an accident lawyer. We frequently have potential clients who didn’t realize how serious their injuries were, until days or even weeks after the accident. Since most accident & injury attorneys offer free consultations, checking with them after any serious accident is always a good idea.

Personal injury lawyers have different thresholds for the severity of injuries they will handle. For example, some lawyers will handle any auto accident case, almost without regard for the seriousness of the injury.. Other lawyers, like me, only accept clients who have injuries that are fairly serious, like those people who required surgery or worse. This is criteria varies depending on the lawyer. So you will need to call around to learn whether the lawyer you want might consider the type of case you have.

Once you are actually speaking with a personal injury lawyer, you should focus on answering their questions, not offering a lot of extraneous information, unless requested.

Auto accident lawyers are generally very focused on these specific issues:

1. when & where the accident happened (this is to make sure the case would be within the applicable deadline for filing a lawsuit, and the geographic location where the lawyer would be willing to travel to handle any case);

2. whether the other driver had any fault for the accident (and the extent of any fault you may have);

3. whether the driver who hit you was in a commercial vehicle, or what amount of insurance coverage they might have

4. what type of diagnosis and treatment you have already received, how long after the accident you received your first treatment, whether you were transported by ambulance from the scene of the accident, when you were last treated, and any pre-existing & related medical conditions you might have; and

5. the seriousness of your injury, and likely necessary future medical treatment.

For other types of accidents, like slip and fall cases, they may want additional details, like what exactly caused your fall, whether you were watching where you were going, what type of shoes you were wearing, and the like. Or, for wrongful death cases, they will want to know other details, like your relationship with the deceased, his or her potential earnings, and similar issues.

Since lawyers are generally trying to determine whether the potential defendant had any fault, how serious your injuries are, and how much insurance coverage is available, you should try to listen carefully to their questions, and provide only the requested information. If your lawyer wonders about other issues, such as whether there were any witnesses, they will ask.

Additionally, being very honest about any shortcomings in your case, such as your prior medical history, or any fault you might have shared for the accident, is very important. If you aren’t honest, you could spend years of wasted time, and even face potential liability, only to have the lawyer for the other side destroy your case in the end. Lawyers have many ways of verifying information, such as speaking with other witnesses, and checking medical records, and any other relevant documents. If your claims are proven untrue in the end, you will not recover much, if any, money, and may even face liability to the other side for their attorney’s fees (not to mention waste everyone’s time, including your own). So honesty is always the best policy.

Overall, personal injury lawyers are very busy, and spend a lot of their time evaluating new cases, which may or may not have merit. We usually know exactly what type of accidents & injuries will meet our varying thresholds, and the answers usually are not complicated.

So the best approach is to honestly answer their questions about the details of your injuries and the accident itself, without offering much extra information, unless the lawyer asks. Lawyers have limited time, so appreciate those who respect their time. Also, if you spend too much time providing irrelevant information, the lawyer may never hear what they actually want and need to know.

When it comes to clients communicating with their lawyer, the best thing I recommend is creative communication methods. One of the things we do in the office, is we communicate with our clients in a variety of ways, from personal phone calls, to emails, and text messages. That way, if we are in a meeting and a client just has a quick question, we can get them the answers they need quickly. Time is a precious commodity for lawyers (and clients), so ways the two can work together when it comes to effective communication are a must.

In this same vein, we also are real with our clients about timing, expectations, etc. This way, a client understands how long something will take. As a client, I encourage someone to ask their attorney for realistic timelines. For example, most lawsuits don’t finalize within a year. So, ask your lawyer their estimation of how long yours will be. As for other aspects of the case, like medical records, it is usually impossible for a law firm to get them back within a day. There is just too much red tape. So, if you are in a hurry to hear back from your lawyer about your medical records, you can help them by obtaining the records yourself – which is much faster.

Open communication between lawyer (law firm) and client is the key to happiness on both sides.

The most effective way for a client to communicate with a personal injury lawyer is by discussing your expectations at the time of hire. If a lawyer or his team understands how often a client expects a status update, then the lawyer can always set time aside to effectively relay information. Lawyers hate to be unprepared to discuss ANY matter—and it can also be frustrating with the client as well.

My practice is to always determine the method and frequency of communication at the onset so that all parties are on the same page. It is also important for clients to understand that if he or she is taking unscheduled phone calls all day, there’s a high chance that it is taking the lawyer away from being able to work on the case! I make a habit of being personally involved in EVERY case, so scheduling appointments is key for our success.