The best accident lawyer in California in all probability does not have any of these character profiles or tendencies. Consequently, these are clearly not your ten best reasons to hire an accident lawyer or what you should be looking for in a good accident attorney. They’re reasons to fire an accident attorney. Here are our best ten.
1. He never went to law school.
2. He never passed the bar exam.
3. His only degree is in bartending.
4. His only real computer skills are in playing video games.
5. The last time he was in court was to defend himself.
6. After he was released from prison, he changed his name completely.
7. His staff looks like they were in prison with him.
8. To enter his office you have to get past his bodyguards and be patted down.
9. His office is under surveillance by law enforcement.
10. He always calls you “sweetie.”
If you’ve been the victim of a car, motorcycle, truck, pedestrian, bicycle, or auto accident, lost a loved one in a wrongful death or been the victim of a dog bite or animal attack, you can visit our website at http://www.SebastianGibsonLaw.com for more information and call us at any of the numbers easily found on our website.
At the law firm of Sebastian Gibson, we don’t seek to take cases from other attorneys. If you’re having difficulties with your current accident attorney, the first thing you should do is request a meeting and let him or her know your concerns. Ask to see your file. You may find out that he or she is actually doing a good job. Or you may not.
On the other hand, if your attorney refuses to meet with you much less return your phone calls, and if you’ve lost all trust in your accident lawyer, you may have no alternative but to change attorneys.
If you’re already in litigation, don’t fire your attorney until you’ve lined up a replacement lawyer. You may have difficulty finding a lawyer who will take your case once it’s in litigation. Many attorneys won’t take cases that have already been filed in court. Our firm feels the same way. The reason for this reluctance is that no attorney wants a case that has been mishandled, especially if it has been mishandled in the litigation phase.
If your claim hasn’t yet gone into litigation and its become clear to you that you can no longer continue with your current lawyer, you may want to consider this fact. If your attorney quits, he or she isn’t entitled to any portion of the attorney fees from your settlement. Consequently, it will be easier for you to find another lawyer if that lawyer doesn’t have to eventually split his or her fee with your former attorney.
On the other hand, if you fire your current attorney, any new lawyers you contact will weigh whether or not your case has sufficient value to make it worthwhile for them to become involved if they have to eventually split their fee with your former attorney.
What this means is that it will be beneficial to your ability to find a new lawyer if you can convince your current attorney to quit. An attorney formally quits by sending you a letter that he is declining to represent you any further. If you are in litigation, an attorney can withdraw only by filing a substitution of attorney replacing himself or herself with you or with your new attorney.
Having made a mistake with the first attorney you hired, you now need to know how to avoid making the same mistake twice. You can’t afford to hire a second bad attorney for your case. But what makes a good attorney from a bad one?
Contrary to popular belief, it’s not his or her skills in the courtroom. It’s his or her personal communication skills. A good attorney returns every client’s phone calls as soon as he or she is able to. A bad attorney ignores his clients’ calls when he or she thinks they don’t need to talk to him or her. An attorney with good communication skills, both in how he talks and listens to you, and how he or she can write, will likely be just as good in court as he or she is in his office and on the phone.
A good attorney is meticulous and organized. A good attorney can still have an office that’s messy, but your file had better be well organized or it will be very unlikely he or she can prepare a thorough and complete evaluation of your case with copies of all the medical bills and records, wage loss documentation, vehicle damage photos and estimates, witness statements (if necessary), the police report and police photos (if any) and a well-written demand letter from four to twenty pages in length, the length of which depends mostly upon the volume of medical records and the severity of your injuries. A bad attorney almost certainly won’t be conscientious or sufficiently organized to prepare anything close to a good demand package for the insurance company and as a result, the settlement offer the insurance company makes on your case will reflect this.
A good accident attorney will be experienced in negotiating accident settlements. He or she will also be good at negotiating the medical liens and any amounts that have to be paid out of your settlement for your medical treatment. A bad attorney will recommend that you take the first or second offer an insurance adjuster makes on your case and will also think that you have to pay your medical liens and any medical bill balances dollar for dollar, when in reality, they can often be reduced substantially.
A bad attorney screams and yells at insurance adjusters, putting themselves on the adjuster’s mental list of attorneys they least want to talk to. A good attorney is respectful, even when disagreeing with an insurance adjuster’s evaluation of a case, and persuasive in presenting your claim because he knows all of the details having written a thorough demand letter to get the best settlement possible.
A bad attorney leaves all of the above to his or her staff of secretaries, clerks and paralegals while he or she does other things. A good attorney does virtually all of the legal work himself, leaving just some of the typing to his secretaries and just the research to his law clerks or paralegals (and many good attorneys won’t even delegate the research) while preparing the demand package letter and talking with the insurance adjusters himself or herself.
Most of all, a good attorney is personable. He or she has a sense of humor and is able to make you feel comfortable and even smile. You can relate to him or her just as he or she can relate to you. He neither brags nor needs to. He or she has a quiet confidence and a winning personality. Most of all, you feel like he or she could be someone you’d want to call your friend.
At the law offices of Sebastian Gibson we return every client’s phone call as soon as it comes in, or if we are in court, as soon as we return to the office. There are no secretaries writing demand letters, returning the calls made by clients wanting to speak to the attorney and no staff member talks to an insurance company adjuster in place of Sebastian Gibson.
Attorney Sebastian Gibson has obtained millions of dollars in settlements and multiple million dollar settlements and has over thirty years of experience.
We invite you to visit our website at http://www.SebastianGibsonLaw.com and call us if you’ve been seriously injured in a personal injury auto, pedestrian, bicycle, car, truck or motorcycle accident or if you’ve lost a loved one in a wrongful death or if you or a family member has been bitten or attacked by a dog or other animal and need to retain an attorney.
We believe that you hired an attorney for your accident case for that attorney’s expertise, not for him or her to shove the work off onto inexperienced and untrained in the law staff members.
Most of all, we like our clients and we hope they truly like us. We hope that you will feel the same way about your attorney.
The Sebastian Gibson law firm practices law in a wide variety of areas of law including California personal injury, auto, pedestrian, motorcycle, car, truck and bicycle accidents, wrongful death, dog bites and animal attacks, and insurance law throughout Southern California from San Diego, Orange County, Irvine, Anaheim, Los Angeles, Huntington Beach, La Jolla, Temecula, Buena Park, Riverside, Escondido, Costa Mesa, Laguna Beach, Santa Monica, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Oxnard, San Luis Obispo, Indian Wells, Fullerton, Orange, Fontana, Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Newport Beach, Carlsbad, Indian Wells, Indio, Coachella and Pasadena, as well as in Europe and internationally.
If you’ve suffered a personal injury in an auto, car, bicycle, truck, motorcycle, or pedestrian accident, lost a loved one in a wrongful death or had a dog bite visit us at http://www.SebastianGibsonLaw.com and call us at any of the numbers easily found on our website or click on one of these links, California Accident Attorney and Southern California Accident Lawyer for representation throughout California.
Filed under paralegal pay by . Comment. 
The best auto accident lawyer in California in all probability does not have any of these character profiles or tendencies. Consequently, these are clearly not your ten best reasons to hire an auto accident lawyer or what you should be looking for in a good auto accident attorney. They’re reasons to fire an auto accident attorney. Here are our best ten.
1. He doesn’t own a car.
2. He doesn’t know how to drive.
3. He doesn’t look like he’s old enough to shave.
4. He works at a fast food outlet during the day.
5. The bar association has never heard of him.
6. He used to sell cars.
7. Your neighbor, the one you can’t stand, recommended him.
8. When you call him, someone in India who normally handles computer questions, answers the phone.
9. When you mention his name to other attorneys they break out in laughter.
10. He keeps moving his office to different states.
If you’ve been the victim of a car, motorcycle, truck, pedestrian, bicycle, or auto accident, lost a loved one in a wrongful death or been the victim of a dog bite or animal attack, you can visit our website at http://www.SebastianGibsonLaw.com for more information and call us at any of the numbers easily found on our website.
At the law firm of Sebastian Gibson, we don’t seek to take cases from other attorneys. If you’re having difficulties with your current auto accident attorney, the first thing you should do is request a meeting and let him or her know your concerns. Ask to see your file. You may find out that he or she is actually doing a good job. Or you may not.
On the other hand, if your attorney refuses to meet with you much less return your phone calls, and if you’ve lost all trust in your auto accident lawyer, you may have no alternative but to change attorneys.
If you’re already in litigation, don’t fire your attorney until you’ve lined up a replacement lawyer. You may have difficulty finding a lawyer who will take your case once it’s in litigation. Many attorneys won’t take cases that have already been filed in court. Our firm feels the same way. The reason for this reluctance is that no attorney wants a case that has been mishandled, especially if it has been mishandled in the litigation phase.
If your claim hasn’t yet gone into litigation and its become clear to you that you can no longer continue with your current lawyer, you may want to consider this fact. If your attorney quits, he or she isn’t entitled to any portion of the attorney fees from your settlement. Consequently, it will be easier for you to find another lawyer if that lawyer doesn’t have to eventually split his or her fee with your former attorney.
On the other hand, if you fire your current attorney, any new lawyers you contact will weigh whether or not your case has sufficient value to make it worthwhile for them to become involved if they have to eventually split their fee with your former attorney.
What this means is that it will be beneficial to your ability to find a new lawyer if you can convince your current attorney to quit. An attorney formally quits by sending you a letter that he is declining to represent you any further. If you are in litigation, an attorney can withdraw only by filing a substitution of attorney replacing himself or herself with you or with your new attorney.
Having made a mistake with the first attorney you hired, you now need to know how to avoid making the same mistake twice. You can’t afford to hire a second bad attorney for your case. But what makes a good attorney from a bad one?
Contrary to popular belief, it’s not his or her skills in the courtroom. It’s his or her personal communication skills. A good attorney returns every client’s phone calls as soon as he or she is able to. A bad attorney ignores his clients’ calls when he or she thinks they don’t need to talk to him or her. An attorney with good communication skills, both in how he talks and listens to you, and how he or she can write, will likely be just as good in court as he or she is in his office and on the phone.
A good attorney is meticulous and organized. A good attorney can still have an office that’s messy, but your file had better be well organized or it will be very unlikely he or she can prepare a thorough and complete evaluation of your case with copies of all the medical bills and records, wage loss documentation, car damage photos and estimates, witness statements (if necessary), the police report and police photos (if any) and a well-written demand letter from four to twenty pages in length, the length of which depends mostly upon the volume of medical records and the severity of your injuries. A bad attorney almost certainly won’t be conscientious or sufficiently organized to prepare anything close to a good demand package for the insurance company and as a result, the settlement offer the insurance company makes on your case will reflect this.
A good auto accident attorney will be experienced in negotiating auto accident settlements. He or she will also be good at negotiating the medical liens and any amounts that have to be paid out of your settlement for your medical treatment. A bad attorney will recommend that you take the first or second offer an insurance adjuster makes on your case and will also think that you have to pay your medical liens and any medical bill balances dollar for dollar, when in reality, they can often be reduced substantially.
A bad attorney screams and yells at insurance adjusters, putting themselves on the adjuster’s mental list of attorneys they least want to talk to. A good attorney is respectful, even when disagreeing with an insurance adjuster’s evaluation of a case, and persuasive in presenting your claim because he knows all of the details having written a thorough demand letter to get the best settlement possible.
A bad attorney leaves all of the above to his or her staff of secretaries, clerks and paralegals while he or she does other things. A good attorney does virtually all of the legal work himself, leaving just some of the typing to his secretaries and just the research to his law clerks or paralegals (and many good attorneys won’t even delegate the research) while preparing the demand package letter and talking with the insurance adjusters himself or herself.
Most of all, a good attorney is personable. He or she has a sense of humor and is able to make you feel comfortable and even smile. You can relate to him or her just as he or she can relate to you. He neither brags nor needs to. He or she has a quiet confidence and a winning personality. Most of all, you feel like he or she could be someone you’d want to call your friend.
At the law offices of Sebastian Gibson we return every client’s phone call as soon as it comes in, or if we are in court, as soon as we return to the office. There are no secretaries writing demand letters, returning the calls made by clients wanting to speak to the attorney and no staff member talks to an insurance company adjuster in place of Sebastian Gibson.
Attorney Sebastian Gibson has obtained millions of dollars in settlements and multiple million dollar settlements and has over thirty years of experience.
We invite you to visit our website at http://www.SebastianGibsonLaw.com and call us if you’ve been seriously injured in a personal injury auto, pedestrian, bicycle, car, truck or motorcycle accident or if you’ve lost a loved one in a wrongful death or if you or a family member has been bitten or attacked by a dog or other animal and need to retain an attorney.
We believe that you hired an attorney for your auto accident case for that attorney’s expertise, not for him or her to shove the work off onto inexperienced and untrained in the law staff members.
Most of all, we like our clients and we hope they truly like us. We hope that you will feel the same way about your attorney.
The Sebastian Gibson law firm practices law in a wide variety of areas of law including California personal injury, auto, pedestrian, motorcycle, car, truck and bicycle accidents, wrongful death, dog bites and animal attacks, and insurance law throughout Southern California from San Diego, Orange County, Irvine, Anaheim, Los Angeles, Huntington Beach, La Jolla, Temecula, Buena Park, Riverside, Escondido, Costa Mesa, Laguna Beach, Santa Monica, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Oxnard, San Luis Obispo, Indian Wells, Fullerton, Orange, Fontana, Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Newport Beach, Carlsbad, Indian Wells, Indio, Coachella and Pasadena, as well as in Europe and internationally.
If you’ve suffered a personal injury in an auto, car, bicycle, truck, motorcycle, or pedestrian accident, lost a loved one in a wrongful death or had a dog bite visit us at http://www.SebastianGibsonLaw.com and call us at any of the numbers easily found on our website or click on one of these links, California Auto Accident Attorney and Southern California Auto Accident Lawyer for representation throughout California.
Filed under paralegal pay by . Comment.
Having an experienced and well-respected Orlando personal injury lawyer representing and protecting your legal interests is one of the most important things you need to do to protect your rights. There are thousands of lawyers available in Florida, and if you’ve been injured, you may be wondering how to choose the one that’s right for you. When interviewing potential personal injury lawyers, be sure to ask them the following questions:
1. Have you tried these types of personal injury cases before?
Don’t assume just based upon advertising that the lawyer you’re considering has handled or tried your type of case. Lawyers today are more like medical doctors in that their experience usually concentrates on specific areas of law. Just as you wouldn’t visit an ear, nose & throat doctor for a broken leg, you don’t want to hire a real estate lawyer for your personal injury case.
Some lawyers do well outside their area of expertise, but many don’t know the nuances in other areas of the law. You must be certain the personal injury lawyer you retain is knowledgeable in this area of the law. Ask for your lawyer’s experience and results, and request a list of former clients you can speak with. You need to control the consultation; don’t be intimidated or bullied by the lawyer. Remember: you’re the one doing the hiring!
2. Will you be the actual attorney handling my case?
Find out if the lawyer you meet with will be the same one you deal with most of the time, and get clear confirmation of just how many people will be working on your case (how many lawyers, paralegals, etc.). You want to make sure you know and are comfortable with all the people working on your case, that you will receive appropriate and timely communication with your lawyer and staff, and that you will not be passed around to a recent law school graduate or a host of paralegals. Make sure to discuss how available the attorney and case manager will be so that you are aware of your case status.
3. Are you insured?
Any good lawyer will carry “Errors and Omissions” insurance, which helps protect them in the event he/she makes a mistake in your case. This is a separate coverage from a standard general liability or property insurance policy. Don’t hire a lawyer who has no insurance; it’s simply too dangerous.
4. What is your contingency fee?
Ask about fees up front. Most personal injury cases are handled on a contingency fee basis. This means that if you do not receive compensation for your damages, your lawyer will not get paid. Do not hire a lawyer who does not work on a contingency fee basis for personal injury cases. Contingency fee agreements are negotiable and typically range between 25% and 40%. The stronger the case and more severe the damages, the more negotiable the fee agreement will be.
5. When will my lawsuit be filed?
Demand specific answers. Some lawyers will sign up a client and then wait 12-18 months to file suit, just prior to the statute of limitations. That delay harms you, as it delays the receipt of money that you may be entitled to. Unless there is a justifiable delay in filing, ask for your case to be filed within 2 weeks.
Filed under Legal Courses by . Comment.
The best wrongful death lawyer in California almost certainly does not have any of these character profiles or tendencies. Consequently, these are quite clearly not your ten best reasons to hire a wrongful death lawyer or what you should be looking for in a good wrongful death attorney. They’re reasons to fire a wrongful death attorney. Here are our best ten.
1. He goes to a dozen funerals every week to pick up new clients.
2. He sells caskets on the internet.
3. His “paralegals” all work at mortuaries.
4. He drives a truck with his advertisement on the side past cemeteries in his spare time.
5. He likes to think of himself as just being “fatalistic.”
6. The State Bar is looking into some of his activities.
7. Other attorneys just shake their head when you mention his name.
8. He always dresses up like Dracula for Halloween.
9. The front seat of his car is his office, the back seat is his home.
10. His middle name is Frankenstein.
If you’ve been the victim of a car, motorcycle, truck, pedestrian, bicycle, or auto accident, lost a loved one in a wrongful death or been the victim of a dog bite or animal attack, you can visit our website at http://www.SebastianGibsonLaw.com for more information and call us at any of the numbers easily found on our website.
At the law firm of Sebastian Gibson, we don’t seek to take cases from other attorneys. If you’re having difficulties with your current wrongful death attorney, the first thing you should do is request a meeting and let him or her know your concerns. Ask to see your file. You may find out that he or she is actually doing a good job. Or you may not.
On the other hand, if your attorney refuses to meet with you much less return your phone calls, and if you’ve lost all trust in your wrongful death lawyer, you may have no alternative but to change attorneys.
If you’re already in litigation, don’t fire your attorney until you’ve lined up a replacement lawyer. You may have difficulty finding a lawyer who will take your case once it’s in litigation. Many attorneys won’t take cases that have already been filed in court. Our firm feels the same way. The reason for this reluctance is that no attorney wants a case that has been mishandled, especially if it has been mishandled in the litigation phase.
If your claim hasn’t yet gone into litigation and its become clear to you that you can no longer continue with your current lawyer, you may want to consider this fact. If your attorney quits, he or she isn’t entitled to any portion of the attorney fees from your settlement. Consequently, it will be easier for you to find another lawyer if that lawyer doesn’t have to eventually split his or her fee with your former attorney.
On the other hand, if you fire your current attorney, any new lawyers you contact will weigh whether or not your case has sufficient value to make it worthwhile for them to become involved if they have to eventually split their fee with your former attorney.
What this means is that it will be beneficial to your ability to find a new lawyer if you can convince your current attorney to quit. An attorney formally quits by sending you a letter that he is declining to represent you any further. If you are in litigation, an attorney can withdraw only by filing a substitution of attorney replacing himself or herself with you or with your new attorney.
Having made a mistake with the first attorney you hired, you now need to know how to avoid making the same mistake twice. You can’t afford to hire a second bad attorney for your case. But what makes a good attorney from a bad one?
Contrary to popular belief, it’s not his or her skills in the courtroom. It’s his or her personal communication skills. A good attorney returns every client’s phone calls as soon as he or she is able to. A bad attorney ignores his clients’ calls when he or she thinks they don’t need to talk to him or her. An attorney with good communication skills, both in how he talks and listens to you, and how he or she can write, will likely be just as good in court as he or she is in his office and on the phone.
A good attorney is meticulous and organized. A good attorney can still have an office that’s messy, but your file had better be well organized or it will be very unlikely he or she can prepare a thorough and complete evaluation of your case with copies of all of the medical bills and records, wage loss documentation, accident scene photos and vehicle damage estimates, witness statements (if necessary), the police report and police photos (if any) and a well-written demand letter from four to twenty pages in length. A bad attorney almost certainly won’t be conscientious or sufficiently organized to prepare anything close to a good demand package for the insurance company and as a result, the settlement offer the insurance company makes on your case will reflect this.
A good wrongful death attorney will be experienced in negotiating wrongful death settlements. A bad attorney will recommend that you take the first or second offer an insurance adjuster makes on your case.
A bad attorney screams and yells at insurance adjusters, putting themselves on the adjuster’s mental list of attorneys they least want to talk to. A good attorney is respectful, even when disagreeing with an insurance adjuster’s evaluation of a case, and persuasive in presenting your claim because he knows all of the details having written a thorough demand letter to get the best settlement possible.
A bad attorney leaves all of the above to his or her staff of secretaries, clerks and paralegals while he or she does other things. A good attorney does virtually all of the legal work himself, leaving just some of the typing to his secretaries and just the research to his law clerks or paralegals (and many good attorneys won’t even delegate the research) while preparing the demand package letter and talking with the insurance adjusters himself or herself.
Most of all, a good attorney is personable. He or she has a sense of humor and is able to make you feel comfortable and even smile. You can relate to him or her just as he or she can relate to you. He neither brags nor needs to. He or she has a quiet confidence and a winning personality. Most of all, you feel like he or she could be someone you’d want to call your friend.
At the law offices of Sebastian Gibson we return every client’s phone call as soon as it comes in, or if we are in court, as soon as we return to the office. There are no secretaries writing demand letters, returning the calls made by clients wanting to speak to the attorney and no staff member talks to an insurance company adjuster in place of Sebastian Gibson.
Attorney Sebastian Gibson has obtained millions of dollars in settlements and multiple million dollar settlements and has over thirty years of experience.
We invite you to visit our website at http://www.SebastianGibsonLaw.com and call us if you’ve been seriously injured in a personal injury auto, pedestrian, bicycle, car, truck or motorcycle accident or if you’ve lost a loved one in a wrongful death or if you or a family member has been bitten or attacked by a dog or other animal and need to retain an attorney.
We believe that you hired an attorney for your wrongful death case for that attorney’s expertise, not for him or her to shove the work off onto inexperienced and untrained in the law staff members.
Most of all, we like our clients and we hope they truly like us. We hope that you will feel the same way about your attorney.
The Sebastian Gibson law firm practices law in a wide variety of areas of law including California personal injury, auto, pedestrian, motorcycle, car, truck and bicycle accidents, wrongful death, dog bites and animal attacks, and insurance law throughout Southern California from San Diego, Orange County, Irvine, Anaheim, Los Angeles, Huntington Beach, La Jolla, Temecula, Buena Park, Riverside, Escondido, Costa Mesa, Laguna Beach, Santa Monica, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Oxnard, San Luis Obispo, Indian Wells, Fullerton, Orange, Fontana, Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Newport Beach, Carlsbad, Indian Wells, Indio, Coachella and Pasadena, as well as in Europe and internationally.
If you’ve suffered a personal injury in an auto, car, bicycle, truck, motorcycle, or pedestrian accident, lost a loved one in a wrongful death or had a dog bite visit us at http://www.SebastianGibsonLaw.com and call us at any of the numbers easily found on our website or click on one of these links, California Wrongful Death Attorney and Southern California Wrongful Death Lawyer for representation throughout California.
Filed under Legal Courses by . Comment.
Finding the right attorney for your divorce can be a real challenge. It requires asking specific questions and taking specific steps to determine which attorney is best for you in your own special case. Choosing the wrong attorney may ultimately cost you a great deal of money, time, and frustration.
Divorce can be a highly emotional, stressful, and intimidating process. There is almost no area of the law which requires as much paper work or the filling out and filing of forms and other documents. This process can be confusing and costly, both financially and emotionally.
As a result, your choice of a divorce lawyer may be one of the most important decisions you make in your case.
Not every lawyer will be right for you. You must be sure that your philosophy of how to handle your divorce case matches that of your lawyer, and that the two of you are ‘on the same page.’ Because of this, you must ask questions and gather information which reveal the attorney’s philosophy for handling divorces.
This guide will help you understand the important facts and questions you must know and deal with when selecting your divorce attorney. By understanding how to select the right divorce lawyer for you and your special case, you will get through your divorce with the least amount of cost and stress.
Researching Your Lawyer
Once you have selected a lawyer to meet with, the next thing you should do is to find out about the lawyer’s professional experience and background. There are several ways to do this:
1. Search the Internet: Make a Google search for your lawyer. Look for a legal blog, a website, news stories quoting or featuring the attorney, and other online information. Ideally, your lawyer should devote almost all of his or her practice to divorce law.
2. Contact the New York State Office of Court Administration: http://www.courts.state.ny.us. This office can tell you when the attorney was admitted to practice law in New York, where he or she went to school and when he or she graduated, and whether the attorney is in good standing or has a record of disciplinary actions.
3. Ask Around: You should ask your circle of friends and professional advisers (accountants, attorneys, marriage therapists, etc) what they know about the attorney, or if they know someone who does know about the attorney.
Contacting the Lawyer’s Office and Scheduling Your Initial Consultation
Now that you have selected a lawyer to interview and have done research on him or her, the next step is to contact the lawyer’s office and schedule an appointment. You can learn a lot about how your lawyer will behave if you retain him or her just by how he or she handles the simple but important task of scheduling a meeting with you, a potential new client.
You should first contact the attorney’s office by telephone or e-mail and request an appointment. When you do this, it is important to tell the lawyer’s office that you would like to discuss a divorce case.
Take careful note of how quickly your message is answered. Your inquiry should always be answered promptly, and that means within 24 hours. If the lawyer you contacted cannot manage to reply to a potential new client who is bringing him or her a new case and therefore new fees, that fact should tell you something about how he or she will behave once he or she already has your money.
Also, pay close attention to who you deal with in setting the appointment and how you are treated. Most good divorce lawyers rely on an assistant to schedule their appointments, and that person is very often responsible for much of the day to day communications and interactions with you once you hire your attorney. If you are not comfortable with the assistant who sets your appointment, it is a sign that the attorney may not be right for you and your case.
Finally, you should ask about the cost of the initial consultation. A good divorce lawyer will often charge an initial consultation fee equal to one hour of his or her time at their usual hourly rate. This fee usually is credited to your account if you eventually hire the attorney.
Visiting Your Lawyer’s Office; What You See and Hear is What You Get
The experience of meeting your lawyer at his or her office is critical to determining whether this attorney is a good fit for you and your special case. An attorney’s office is, in effect, his or her professional home. And the rules that apply to a lawyer’s professional home are the same as those that apply to your own home. So, you should pay careful attention to what you see and hear in your lawyer’s office.
1. Visit during normal business hours. I try to encourage my potential new clients to visit my office during normal hours when my staff is present. Why? Because I want them to meet my staff and see just how well they take care of clients. While I also keep night hours for the convenience of some potential clients, those clients do not get the opportunity to observe the office fully at work. So, in order to be able to observe the attorney, the office, and staff in their normal work routine, I suggest you schedule your appointment during normal business hours whenever possible.
2. Is the office neat and clean? This tells you something about how organized and focused the lawyer is. If the office is a mess and there are papers and files everywhere, imagine how that will affect the lawyer’s ability to find your file and deal with your case at critical moments.
3. How does the attorney and his or her employee’s behave towards you and each other? It is important to observe how the lawyer’s staff treat you and each other during your visit. What you see when you are there is likely to be their best behavior. If you are not well taken care of during your visit or you observe inappropriate behavior during your visit, you can be certain this conduct will get worse once you are a client of the firm and the attorney has your money in hand.
Interviewing Your Lawyer; 9 Questions You Should Always Ask
Preparing for your interview with your lawyer will help you make a better and more informed decision. You should organize discussion topics prior to meeting and bring with you any relevant paperwork. Your lawyer may need some of the documents you bring with you so be prepared and retain copies for your own records. If you can, you should write down dates and times of events, the names and addresses of any witnesses and any other important facts.
You should try to understand that lawyers have professional and ethical commitments to all of their other clients, so you should expect your interview to last about 30-45 minutes on average.
During the interview, you will be able to tell your attorney why you are getting divorced, and what problems need to be addressed regarding your children, your property, and your debts.
At some point during the meeting, you should be able to ask questions about your case. You should try and write down as many of your questions as you can before the meeting so that you make sure you remember to ask them.
In my experience, there are nine questions you should always ask a divorce lawyer during your interview. The answers to these questions will tell you a good deal about your attorney and if he or she is right for you.
1. How much experience do you have with cases like mine?
2. How much of your practice is devoted to divorce law?
3. What other types of cases do you handle?
4. How do you communicate with clients? For example, e-mail, text message, telephone, regular mail?
5. How fast do you answer calls and other communications from clients?
6. How much will your services cost me, and what is your upfront retainer fee?
7. Do you bill for normal business ‘overhead’ such as faxes, postage, and photocopies?
8. How long does a case like mine usually take if there are no unusual developments?
9. What is your philosophy or style of handling divorces? Why?
Deciding Which Lawyer is Right for You
While you are interviewing a lawyer, you should listen carefully to the answers provided. You should also pay extremely close attention to your lawyer’s personality, his or her manners and behavior, and how you feel during the interview. How does the attorney make you feel? Comfortable? At ease? Does he or she treat you as an equal and with respect? Or do you feel like the attorney has a superior attitude and talks down to you? Has the lawyer spent meaningful time with you and provided answers to your questions and concerns in a friendly and appropriate manner?
How you feel about your lawyer and how he or she behaves towards you will absolutely affect your ability to trust and communicate effectively with that person over emotional and highly personal matters. After the interview, assess the strengths and weaknesses of the candidate. Did the lawyer listen to you? Did the lawyer provide enough information to make you feel comfortable that he or she knew the law and procedure in your county? Did you feel confident?
Once you have reviewed and considered the interview and how the attorney behaved and made you feel, what you saw and heard in dealing with the attorney’s office in scheduling and conducting the interview, the answers to your questions, and the costs and fees for hiring the attorney, you now have the information and experiences necessary to decide which attorney best suits your needs.
The best bicycle accident lawyer in California almost certainly does not have any of these character profiles or tendencies. Consequently, these are clearly not your best reasons to hire a bicycle accident lawyer or what you should be looking for in a good bicycle accident attorney. They’re reasons to fire a bicycle accident attorney. Here are our best ten.
1. He was recently arrested for flashing someone.
2. He used to be in Congress until he had a scandal with a nude dancer who turned out to be a spy.
3. The spy now works for him as a paralegal.
4. He hangs out around dangerous intersections at night handing out his cards to passing motorists.
5. Ambulance drivers are on his payroll.
6. He eats all his meals at the local hospital cafeteria trying to sign up new clients.
7. His office is in the back of a tow yard.
8. For extra money, he sells diet pills he guarantees will help you lose 20 pounds in a week.
9. His law degree certificate looks like it was cut and pasted at a copying center.
10. He drives a tow truck and looks for accident victims on his way to work in the morning.
If you’ve been the victim of a car, motorcycle, truck, pedestrian, bicycle, or auto accident, lost a loved one in a wrongful death or been the victim of a dog bite or animal attack, you can visit our website at http://www.SebastianGibsonLaw.com for more information and call us at any of the numbers easily found on our website.
At the law firm of Sebastian Gibson, we don’t seek to take cases from other attorneys. If you’re having difficulties with your current bicycle accident attorney, the first thing you should do is request a meeting and let him or her know your concerns. Ask to see your file. You may find out that he or she is actually doing a good job. Or you may not.
On the other hand, if your attorney refuses to meet with you much less return your phone calls, and if you’ve lost all trust in your bicycle accident lawyer, you may have no alternative but to change attorneys.
If you’re already in litigation, don’t fire your attorney until you’ve lined up a replacement lawyer. You may have difficulty finding a lawyer who will take your case once it’s in litigation. Many attorneys won’t take cases that have already been filed in court. Our firm feels the same way. The reason for this reluctance is that no attorney wants a case that has been mishandled, especially if it has been mishandled in the litigation phase.
If your claim hasn’t yet gone into litigation and its become clear to you that you can no longer continue with your current lawyer, you may want to consider this fact. If your attorney quits, he or she isn’t entitled to any portion of the attorney fees from your settlement. Consequently, it will be easier for you to find another lawyer if that lawyer doesn’t have to eventually split his or her fee with your former attorney.
On the other hand, if you fire your current attorney, any new lawyers you contact will weigh whether or not your case has sufficient value to make it worthwhile for them to become involved if they have to eventually split their fee with your former attorney.
What this means is that it will be beneficial to your ability to find a new lawyer if you can convince your current attorney to quit. An attorney formally quits by sending you a letter that he is declining to represent you any further. If you are in litigation, an attorney can withdraw only by filing a substitution of attorney replacing himself or herself with you or with your new attorney.
Having made a mistake with the first attorney you hired, you now need to know how to avoid making the same mistake twice. You can’t afford to hire a second bad attorney for your case. But what makes a good attorney from a bad one?
Contrary to popular belief, it’s not his or her skills in the courtroom. It’s his or her personal communication skills. A good attorney returns every client’s phone calls as soon as he or she is able to. A bad attorney ignores his clients’ calls when he or she thinks they don’t need to talk to him or her. An attorney with good communication skills, both in how he talks and listens to you, and how he or she can write, will likely be just as good in court as he or she is in his office and on the phone.
A good attorney is meticulous and organized. A good attorney can still have an office that’s messy, but your file had better be well organized or it will be very unlikely he or she can prepare a thorough and complete evaluation of your case with copies of all the medical bills and records, wage loss documentation, bicycle damage photos, witness statements (if necessary), the police report and police photos (if any) and a well-written demand letter from four to twenty pages in length, the length of which depends mostly upon the volume of medical records and the severity of your injuries. A bad attorney almost certainly won’t be conscientious or sufficiently organized to prepare anything close to a good demand package for the insurance company and as a result, the settlement offer the insurance company makes on your case will reflect this.
A good bicycle accident attorney will be experienced in negotiating bicycle accident settlements. He or she will also be good at negotiating the medical liens and any amounts that have to be paid out of your settlement for your medical treatment. A bad attorney will recommend that you take the first or second offer an insurance adjuster makes on your case and will also think that you have to pay your medical liens and any medical bill balances dollar for dollar, when in reality, they can often be reduced substantially.
A bad attorney screams and yells at insurance adjusters, putting themselves on the adjuster’s mental list of attorneys they least want to talk to. A good attorney is respectful, even when disagreeing with an insurance adjuster’s evaluation of a case, and persuasive in presenting your claim because he knows all of the details having written a thorough demand letter to get the best settlement possible.
A bad attorney leaves all of the above to his or her staff of secretaries, clerks and paralegals while he or she does other things. A good attorney does virtually all of the legal work himself, leaving just some of the typing to his secretaries and just the research to his law clerks or paralegals (and many good attorneys won’t even delegate the research) while preparing the demand package letter and talking with the insurance adjusters himself or herself.
Most of all, a good attorney is personable. He or she has a sense of humor and is able to make you feel comfortable and even smile. You can relate to him or her just as he or she can relate to you. He neither brags nor needs to. He or she has a quiet confidence and a winning personality. Most of all, you feel like he or she could be someone you’d want to call your friend.
At the law firm of Sebastian Gibson we return every client’s phone call as soon as it comes in, or if we are in court, as soon as we return to the office. There are no secretaries writing demand letters, returning the calls made by clients wanting to speak to the attorney and no staff member talks to an insurance company adjuster in place of Sebastian Gibson.
Attorney Sebastian Gibson has obtained millions of dollars in settlements and multiple million dollar settlements and has over thirty years of experience.
We believe that you hired an attorney for your bicycle accident case for that attorney’s expertise, not for him or her to shove the work off onto inexperienced and untrained in the law staff members.
Most of all, we like our clients and we hope they truly like us. We hope that you will feel the same way about your attorney.
We invite you to visit our website at http://www.SebastianGibsonLaw.com and call us if you’ve been seriously injured in a personal injury auto, pedestrian, bicycle, car, truck or motorcycle accident or if you’ve lost a loved one in a wrongful death or if you or a family member has been bitten or attacked by a dog or other animal and need to retain an attorney.
The Sebastian Gibson law firm practices law in a wide variety of areas of law including California personal injury, auto, pedestrian, motorcycle, car, truck and bicycle accidents, wrongful death, dog bites and animal attacks, and insurance law throughout Southern California from San Diego, Orange County, Irvine, Anaheim, Los Angeles, Huntington Beach, La Jolla, Temecula, Buena Park, Riverside, Escondido, Costa Mesa, Laguna Beach, Santa Monica, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Oxnard, San Luis Obispo, Indian Wells, Fullerton, Orange, Fontana, Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Newport Beach, Carlsbad, Indian Wells, Indio, Coachella and Pasadena, as well as in Europe and internationally.
If you’ve suffered a personal injury in an auto, car, bicycle, truck, motorcycle, or pedestrian accident, lost a loved one in a wrongful death or had a dog bite visit us at http://www.SebastianGibsonLaw.com and call us at any of the numbers easily found on our website or click on one of these links, California Bicycle Accident Attorney and Southern California Bicycle Accident Lawyer for representation throughout California.
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I have often been asked, how can an individual be expected to make a good decision whether an Attorney is competent for a client’s needs; if this legal ruling called an attorney / client privilege detracts from a potential client being able to request references? Since each Attorney can claim client confidentiality, which precludes him or her from giving references; unless that Attorney has been sued for malpractice, how do you, the client know if the Attorney is simply slightly below or above average in his legal handling of his caseload?
Asking an Attorney for his litigation record of wins/losses can help to improve the odds of hiring a competent Attorney, yet every potential client should couple that action with a public search record of that Attorney’s experience. With the world-wide web at our fingertips, it behooves every person seeking legal advice to not only question each Attorney you interview, but perform a public records search to ensure you have adequate information on an Attorney, before you put your legal issue into their hands.
These paradoxical questions are at the core of decision making skills that all Americans in-legal-need must be able to command. The need to ascertain the value of a lawyer’s ability to litigate is critical to your best bet to secure a winning verdict. When your financial future is on the line, how do you research an attorney’s capabilities?
Outside of going online to a general search engine to research an Attorney’s background in a specific state, which is scarce and fraught with potentially subjective and/or damaging comments from unhappy customers; what can you do to raise the stakes for finding a successful litigator? There are various solutions to finding a competent Attorney that has the experience in your legal issue and a history of litigating with a successful record.
These solutions range from asking targeted questions to an Attorney in a phone interview, prior to setting up an appointment; to performing targeted research by going to your State’s Legal Bar Association online and performing a malpractice search. Also there are a wide variety of search engines which provide host companies that keep records of Attorneys with good client references, as well as records of Attorneys with poor client complaints.
We suggest you use a combination of techniques to manage the process of hiring your next Attorney. Is it any less crucial than when you go to buy a home? Do you sign all the papers without asking questions about the legal ramifications of the documents from the Real Estate Agent? What if you had hired a less than competent Real Estate Agent and they had failed to review the documents to ensure that a fixed loan instead of a balloon payment structure was in the terms of your home purchase? Do you think you could claim malpractice against the Agent who failed to ensure your needs were met; or do you think a judge would ask you if you had protected your rights by careful review of the process?
A legal malpractice is just as hard to prove against an Attorney, unless a blatant claim of negligence on performance of legal services were established. As a plaintiff, you must prove a breach of duty of the Attorney resulted in an injury or loss to you. Nominal damages, by itself is insufficient to prove your cause of action. You would have to prove the underlying case had merit and there was no judicial error on the part of the court, plus you would have to establish a significant loss of your rights. It is far easier to perform a little extra leg work before hiring an Attorney, than losing a lawsuit with merit and going through the crisis of legal malpractice.
For a more extensive guide on how to find a lawyer please make sure you visit our website and read the 5 Golden Rules.
Free California Bar certified Los Angeles personal injury lawyer referral service.
2029 Century Park East
Suite 1400
Los Angeles, CA 90067
Tel: 310.203.8888
Fax: 323.443.3600
Email: info@higherlegal.com
Samui is often dubbed as one of the most popular wedding destinations in Thailand due to its majestic location. Aside from its immaculate beaches, Samui law firms are also one of the major attractions in the area. From time to time, foreigners seek Samui lawyers to assist them in their respective legal needs particularly in drafting prenuptial agreements.
There are several reasons that explain why Samui lawyers should be hired prior to drafting prenuptial agreements:
Drafting prenuptial agreements is a legal matter—Thai prenuptial agreements can be either modified or revised only through a court order. Rather than experiencing all the hassles of instituting court proceedings, go to competent Samui lawyers and let them draft the pre-marriage contract.
Drafting these contracts is far from being a do-it-yourself (DIY) project. There are constitutional provisions that should be observed strictly in order to protect the rights of the parties involved. Under such circumstances, it is evident that Samui lawyers are the appropriate individuals to handle such cases.
Protection of one’s rights—Through the years, it cannot be denied that many spouses suffer from poorly drafted prenuptial agreements. The situation becomes even more frustrating when some spouses voluntarily waive their rights. By hiringSamui lawyers, couples can avail of sound legal advice that could explain clearly the possible consequences of the provisions in the agreement as well as ensure the proper assertion of their rights.
Protection against delays—Since many are convinced that they can draft their own pre-nuptial agreements, it would not be a surprise to see couples overwhelmed with prenup revisions. This, of course, could result to delays. In Thailand, future couples are compelled to submit their pre-marriage contracts before the wedding day. Failure to do so will make the agreement null and void. Instead of wasting too much time on creating poorly drafted prenups, go to a Samui lawyer. These professionals can assure soon-to-be husbands and wives that their termsare well-articulated and their constitutional rights will not be violated.
For privacy purposes—Pre-marriage contracts contain confidential information. Its contents cannot be indiscriminately shared to other individuals. Resorting to DIY methods may expose private information to third parties and increase the risks of being taken advantage of by those withpersonal interests.
On a closer look, it is evident that prenuptial agreements are pretty complex; thus, the assistance of Samui lawyers cannot be ignored.
Siam Legal (Samui) Co, Ltd.
142/17 Maret, Koh Samui IT Complex Building Suite 309, Surat Thani 84310 Thailand
Tel : 077-230-291
International Dialing: 667-723-029
Amidst HuaHin’s majestic spots, foreigners and expats inevitably face the need to hire HuaHin lawyers. The following are eight reasons why the services of HuaHin lawyers are needed:
Unfamiliarity with the Thai legal system – Foreigners and expats, even if they have stayed in Thailand for some time are still unfamiliar with Thai laws. Said unfamiliarity places them at the risk of committing serious mistakes that may entail legal consequences.Worse, they may not even be aware of the seriousness of the action done.Therefore, it is highly advisable to hire HuaHin lawyers who can explain to them their rights and correlative obligations.
Foreigners and expat need someone to represent them – Due to Thailand’s strong and emerging economy, many foreign investors and entrepreneurs go to the country. Their hectic schedules may hinder them from attending all their conferences and meetings. These HuaHin lawyers can represent their clients in various transactions. And these legal services are not exclusive to foreign businessmen. Even those who are staying in HuaHinjust to enjoy the place, registering their marriage, or acquiring a property can seek the services of lawyers to represent them.
Right protection – A minimal knowledge on Thai laws is not enough to protect one’s rights. Only HuaHin lawyers can efficiently perform such task. In any situation, a lawyer shall do everything to ensure that their clients’ rights are observed and well-protected.
Cost-effective – For foreigners and expats, it is much better to hire HuaHin lawyers than to seek services of lawyers from their home countries. The latter is an expensive option. In urgent situations, other than the professional fees, one still needs to pay for the lawyer’s lodging and transportation fees, not to mention that they need to wait until the legal practitioner’s visa is already approved.
Accessible – Other than being cost-effective, lawyers that are within the area are far more accessible. One can immediately seek their help and support, most especially in dire situations.
Proper filing of documents and records – Instead of resorting to the DIY method, go to a HuaHin lawyer. In this aspect, applicants are secured that the documents are submitted to appropriate agencies and institutions. In addition, controversies regarding privacy and confidentiality can be avoided.
Addressing immigration issues – Visa applications and residency permits—these are two of the most common problems that aliens in Thailand often encounter. This can be resolved better with a lawyer at hand.
One should never disregard the importance of hiring HuaHin lawyers. In any circumstances, these are the best people who can aid foreigners in distress.
HuaHin Lawyers
Tel : 032-516-375
International Dialing : 663-251-6375
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