How to Choose a Personal Injury Lawyer in St. Louis

The small and unexpected things in life generally bring us the most joy. When an unexpected event leads to a serious injury, it may be the case that someone’s negligent behavior is responsible for your pain. This can be the result of any number of incidents, however, each will carry the same consequence. Their failure caused you suffering and avoidable financial costs.

When to press charges

If you believe you have substantial evidence to back a claim, a natural course of action is to prosecute. The standard statute of limitations in Missouri specifies that all personal injury claims must be lodged within five years of the date the incident took place.

Furthermore, any lawsuits revolving around medical negligence or malpractice must be filed within two years unless there are mitigating circumstances. This could be due to a delay in symptoms appearing or cases involving certain vulnerable groups such as minors or people suffering disability.

To advance a lawsuit, searching for personal injury lawyers St. Louis will provide you a list of potential attorneys who can offer their services but how do you know which law firm is the best choice?

Specialized field of expertise

There are many different fields of law and lawyers usually specialize in one particular area. While a law firm is often comprised of a group of lawyers with different attributes, the lawyer who goes on to represent your case should specifically have experience in dealing with similar cases in the local area.

A simple way to substantiate this is to check the qualifications awarded by the law school in which they studied. If you have reason to doubt their authenticity, searching the State bar for details of the lawyer license is a prudent move.

Effectiveness

While many attorneys are proud to announce how many years they’ve been actively practicing the law, ensure that this is all within the relevant area. It’s also true that experience doesn’t count for everything. Unfortunately, there is no so thing as a win/loss record and if there was it would still prove to be misleading. Searching out reviews of previous clients can prove much more fruitful.

A combination of positive reviews and plenty of relevant experience should ensure a much more effective lawyer. It can also indicate a higher cost to hire them and so you will need to balance each factor to the needs of your case and your personal interests.

Interview your prospective representation

Most law firms offer a free consultation to assess the credentials of any claim you have. This meeting should also be used by you to assess the attorney’s suitability for your case

As such, you should always prepare a list of questions prior to the meeting which should include asking them to cite evidence of particularly relevant recent cases which they’ve been involved in.

Judging their personality can also be a very important factor, however, it’s most important to ensure the terms of any agreement including the structure of legal fees are mutually agreeable before formalizing a legal relationship.