In 2018, there was an average of 303 car accidents in New York City every single day. These statistics mean that if you are an NYC resident or commuter, you will probably be in a car accident in the city at some point in your life. And, if you are, you’ll probably need to hire a lawyer. When looking for a top-notch car accident attorney NYC residents should look for these three characteristics.
Experience
All lawyers focus on a specific area of law, so you want to choose an attorney who has significant experience in handling personal injury cases related to motor vehicle accidents. Usually, personal injury attorneys will have experience in multiple types of personal injuries, including defective product cases, workplace accidents, and medical malpractice lawsuits, but you’ll want to make sure they have a lot of experience with car accidents in particular.
Communication Skills
When you hire an attorney, you are basically handing your case to someone else to deal with on your behalf. For this reason, you will want a lawyer who communicates with you every step of the way to keep you informed on what’s going on. Your attorney should also clearly communicate their fee structure and what, if anything, you’ll need to pay upfront. In most cases, with personal injury lawsuits, you won’t have to pay a dime until your case is settled or won, but this isn’t true for every situation, so your attorney needs to communicate that to you.
Additionally, you want an attorney who will communicate with you in the way you want to be communicated with. Maybe you want an update by phone only at certain points during the case or perhaps you want to receive an email update every time your attorney takes an action on your behalf. However you want to communicate about your case, your attorney should accommodate your request.
Engagement
Any attorney who takes your case should be willing to give it their all. They should ask you plenty of detailed questions about what happened and provide you with a personalized plan of action that shows how they’re going to approach your case. If an attorney is not engaged with your case, they may only give the minimum effort required to settle your claim and you might not get all the compensation you deserve.
You are looking for a partner who is as invested in your case as you are because otherwise, it’s not worth hiring a lawyer in the first place. Usually, this isn’t an issue because most personal injury attorneys don’t get paid unless you settle or win your case, so they want to get as much money as possible for both you and them. But if you don’t feel right about the level of interest your attorney is showing, listen to your instincts.
Conclusion
Getting into a car accident in New York City can be scary, especially since there are so many vehicles on the road at a single time. If you find yourself in that situation, hire an experienced car accident lawyer who is familiar with the city and knows how to protect your rights.