What If I Want To Change My Lawyer For My Personal Injury Case?

If you have been seriously injured at the hands of someone’s negligence, the best course of action is to hire a personal injury attorney to help you win the compensation you deserve. Unfortunately, however, there are some personal injury lawyers out there that just don’t know what they are doing or do not make their clients a priority. Whether you win the full and fair amount of money compensation you deserve is entirely dependent upon how competent your attorney is. If you are unhappy with your attorney, for whatever reason, understand that you are not bound to that person; you can hire a new attorney if you so choose. Robert Bates & Associates have been successfully representing seriously injured people in the Tri-Cities region of Tennessee for over a decade. If you are unhappy with your current lawyer, contact my office and we can talk about your options of switching attorneys to someone you are more comfortable with.

When You Should Switch Attorneys

The first thing I always tell people who contact me about switching lawyers is if their attorney knows that they are unhappy for some reason. I counsel people to at least let their attorney know what they are unhappy with. Depending on the attorney’s response, then the client can make the decision to move to another lawyer. But at least give the old attorney an opportunity to fix whatever issue there is and make you happy again.

There are many reasons why you should switch lawyers. Instead of examining what “bad lawyers” do, here are some things that “good lawyers” focus on and how they treat their clients. If your lawyer doesn’t do the things in this list, then maybe you should consider switching lawyers.

● Prioritize Your Case: Your case isn’t the only case the lawyer is working on. With some personal injury law firms, lawyers can have dozens of active cases. But with most cases, the lawyer isn’t working on each case every day. There are many times where cases are in “waiting mode” and nothing needs to be done because we are waiting on the court or a response from the other side, for example. But every case can still be a priority. As long as the lawyer is moving the case forward to a conclusion and keeps the client up to date on the status, then the lawyer is doing a good job. Everyone understands that the process can take a long time, sometimes even years, but as long as the client feels like the lawyer is working on moving the case forward, the better.

● Answer Your Questions: A good lawyer will make sure all of their questions are answered in an honest and compassionate way. An informed client is a happy client. A good lawyer will sit down and spend as much time as necessary to answer any questions so that the client feels like they are part of the team in helping win a successful outcome to the case.

● Keep You Updated: A good lawyer will keep a client updated on the status of their case, even if there’s not much going on. A quick phone call or simple update letter to the client goes a long way in keeping the client happy and making them feel that their lawyer has their back. This includes taking the client’s phone calls when they call or making sure that a return call is made. One of the major complaints of lawyers, in general, is that they do not return phone calls on time.

● The Attorney is Honest and Ethical: An attorney who engages in unethical behavior, such as encouraging you to lie about the facts of your case or destroy evidence, should be exchanged for another representative immediately.

How to Make the Switch

Once a decision is made to switch attorneys, and you’ve spoken with your soon to be new lawyer, then that lawyer should handle all the things that need to happen. You should not have to speak to your old lawyer after that. Every case is different and every lawyer is different, so they might handle the situation in a different manner. But there are things that need to be figured out such as costs and fees relating to the work the old lawyer has already performed.

● Determining the cost of switching: Since most personal injury lawyers are paid from the settlement you receive, your first attorney will not get anything if you switch. Your new attorney should examine your contract with the former attorney to see if there are any fees you will have to pay when you terminate the agreement.

● Signing a retainer agreement: Just as you did with your former attorney, you will have to sign a form to give your new lawyer permission to represent you.

● Sending a stop work letter: Your new attorney must send a “stop work” letter to your former attorney, which requests that he stop working on your case and forward the case file to your new attorney.

● Signing a consent form: Your new attorney will prepare a form for you to sign, called a Consent to Change Attorney, to notify the court and all parties in your case that you have switched attorneys. If your case is already undergoing court proceedings, your attorney will also need to provide notice of withdrawal or substitution of counsel.

The bottom line is that you are not bound to one attorney if you are not happy with their performance for whatever reason. You can change lawyers to one that you are more comfortable with and has the work ethic you expect.

Robert BatesRobert is a Kingsport trial lawyer who handles car, truck and motorcycle wreck cases across the Tri-Cities. Every client gets his cell number.