Are the best personal injury lawyers at the big personal injury law firms?

 

No.

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If I go with a big personal injury law firm, will one of the more experienced lawyers be working on my particular case? 

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Maybe. It depends on how many broken bones you have.

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If I go with a big personal injury law firm, will there be a lot of attorneys all working on my particular case?

 

That's a joke. There's a 99% chance that only one attorney will ever have anything to do with your case, regardless of the size of the law firm. Will it be one of the older, more experienced attorneys? Or will it be one of the young, relatively inexperienced lawyers who who is still learning?

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What are some advantages of going with a smaller personal injury law firm?  

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There will be more attorney-client contact.  You will know exactly who is working on your case (i.e., which attorney) from the very beginning. There will be more attorney involvement. You'll be working with a lawyer instead of a legal assistant, paralegal, or claims handler. The overhead is much lower at the small firms. Your lawyer will be handling a smaller number of important cases instead of playing the numbers game. Your lawyer's personal secretary or paralegal will answer the telephone instead of a receptionist who doesn't know anything about your case. You will not be transferred around to people who don't know anything about your case. 

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Should I meet my lawyer before I sign up with a firm?  

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Yes. The big law firms talk about "hiring a law firm instead of a lawyer." They say this because they are playing the numbers game and the lawyers don't have time to get to know everyone. The big firms are handling thousands and thousands of cases. The attorneys have to rely heavily on claims handlers and other non-lawyers to do important work. Frequently the client doesn't even meet their real lawyer at the beginning of the case.  

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The only thing a car accident lawyer needs is a good secretary, a good paralegal, and a good investigator. After that, the relevant question is which attorney is going to be working on your particular case. If they're at one of the big firms handling thousands of cases, are they really going to have time to get to know you and learn about how the accident has affected you? How much attorney involvement is there going to be?  How many other cases will that Richmond car accident lawyer be handling at the same time?  Probably way too many.