Watch as Attorney Derek Pakiz covers what you need to know to choose the right lawyer.

TRANSCRIPT

Renee

Welcome to P.I.N. the Personal Injury Network, brought to you by The Reeves Law Group.
I’m Renee Sams, we’re here today it with Derek Pakiz, he is of The Reeves Law Group who has not only handle thousands of personal injury cases, he is also one of about hundred lawyers in the country who is an accredited diplomat of the national
organization of plaintiff lawyers. Derek so great to have you here today thanks for joining us.

Derek

Thank you, it’s great to be here.

Renee

Derek, when a person’s been injured what type of attorney should be looking for?

Derek

Renee, an injured person wants a personal injury attorney If you’ve got a contract matter a contract attorney is great. If you’re going to do an adoption a family law attorney is who you want, but when someone’s been injured, they need a personal injury lawyer.

Renee

You know that makes perfect sense. With all the personal injury attorneys that are
out there, how does somebody go about finding the right one.

Derek

In today’s day and age, the Internet is probably your best resource for researching attorneys. There on the Internet you can find out their background, their experienced and their track record.

Renee

So, Derek what are some of the most important things that we can look for when hiring an attorney.

Derek

Remember, jack of all trades, master of none. If you’ve got a serious medical condition, you’re going to go to a medical specialist. Likewise if you’ve been seriously injured, you need to go to legal specialist to help you as well.

Renee

Okay so you’ve established that a personal injury attorney is required,
but will any personal injury lawyer do will?

Derek

Well remember the person that harms you usually has a multi-billion dollar insurance company on their side. That insurance company already has a team assembled of adjusters, investigators and lawyers. You want a lawyer who can go toe to toe with that kind of opponent and still win the day. Generally speaking,
you want to look for a lawyer that has many attorneys, has been in existence for many years and has a proven track record of many successes in your kind of case.

Renee

So Derek, why choose a large firm for something like personal injury?

Derek

You want to make sure that the firm you hire has the resources necessary to handle your case the right way. Insurance companies have lots of money to throw into a defense of a case. You want to make sure that your lawyers have the financial resources available to be able to deal with whatever the defense throws at them.
Also you want to make sure that the firm you hire has enough attorneys to be able to give you what ever attention you need and a deal with the unique challenges and problems of your particular case.

Renee

Derek how can choosing the right firm and the right lawyer help someone get the best results and the money they deserve?

Derek

Renee that’s a great question. It’s true sometimes a case can be settled early on,
but more often than not they’re gonna put up a fight. Then the case has to go to court you want an attorney who’s experienced there and while it’s true that most cases never have to go to trial if the insurance company continues to fail to treat you fairly. You want to make sure that you hire an attorney who is experienced in trial and has a proven track record of successes there. Who can take the case to trial, win the day and let the jury then tell that insurance company just what they owe you.

Renee

So Derek, you know when somebody thinks of working with a large firm, they think big cost, right? Can somebody who is living on a moderate budget truly afford working with a large firm?

Derek

Everybody can afford a large personal injury firm. That’s because personal injury attorneys work on a contingency fee basis. So contingency means that until and unless they win the case for you, you don’t owe them one cent, ever. Until and unless
they get the recovery for you.

Renee

So Derek what your saying is that when someone is involved in a personal injury
case, it’s not the person of the property they are up against it’s really the insurance company?

Derek

That’s almost invariably the case, there’s an insurance company behind the scenes
pulling the strings.

Renee

So in essences, what you’re saying is that someone has a better chance for justice by hiring a large experienced firm, who can go head to head with an insurance company.

Derek

Absolutely, in fact insurance companies know which are the big established firms that are willing to go to the mat for their clients. Often times that knowledge translates to better results at a earlier phase of the case.

Renee

Since all firms claim to be committed to their client or have the super track record.
How do we know who to believe?

Derek

I don’t think it surprises anybody that lawyers would fall over themselves to tell you how great they are. I would rather listen to what their clients had to say about them.
So if you go to their website, look to see if they have client videos and if they do listen to what the client’s have to say. If they don’t have client videos you might
need to ask why is only the lawyer whose tooting his own horn? And with respect to results anybody can claim to get great results, it’s another thing to prove it. So look on those websites and see if it’s just a lot of talk or if they put their results in writing, where you can look at them.

Renee

Derek thank you so much for joining us today and for all of your insight and helping us better understand how to choose of personal injury lawyer and on behalf of the Personal Injury Network and The Reeves Law Group I’m Renee Sams. Thank you so much for joining us, have a great day!