Since nearly half of all small business owners have to deal with a  lawsuit at one point or another, most people hire lawyers to protect themselves. However, if you’re not in that category, you might not have a lawyer in your pocket for when something bad happens to you. When you get injured, you have to sift through the lawyers for personal injury to ensure you get the compensation you deserve.

Here are five important criteria for finding the ideal personal injury lawyer.

1. Find Someone Local

When searching for a lawyer, you need to find someone who is nearby. You might have to have meetings with your attorney, run some documents over to them, or talk about regional issues.

For example, if you were injured by a truck owned by one of the largest oil suppliers in the region, having a local attorney could come in handy. Who would know better if they had a poor safety record preceding them than someone who was based in the region? There is a lot of local knowledge that could come in handy when working on a personal injury case.

Someone who is located near you is also going to be invested in the community. If they live and work in the same area, they’ll know the importance of personal referrals. They’re going to want to give you great service because they know that word of mouth travels fast.

When you hire someone from your region, they also know the court system well. They’ll have personal relationships with judges and other attorneys. They’ll know when you have a sympathetic attorney and when you don’t.

2. Check Their Reviews

While some people might lament those stacks of phonebooks that used to take up space in the corner of the living room, most of us don’t miss them. In their place, we have all kinds of online business directories like Google My Business, Yahoo! Local, and Yelp.

With the help of these directories, we can learn more about the people we hire than ever before. We can find out what people like about them, what people hate about them, and photos of their successes and failures.

Online reviews should always be taken with a grain of salt. People can get sanctimonious online, so don’t take everything they say seriously. However, if you see a pattern of negative reviews, you’ll begin to notice there might be problems with this attorney.

The inverse is true as well. A string of glowing reviews means that you’re in the right hands. Just make sure to read carefully that the reviews are authentic and not paid for by the attorney or one of their friends.

3. See Previous Results

When seeking an attorney to work with, they’re going to be more than happy to tell you about some previous positive results that they’ve had. If you’ve never worked with this attorney before, they’ll want to assure you that they have the experience you’re looking for.

Don’t be too shy to ask about previous results they’ve had with cases like yours. It’s essential for you to get an idea of what you can expect as their client.

A good attorney will open up to you immediately. They’ll understand your reluctance and want to make you feel comfortable with them. If they don’t supply you with a list of previous clients’ phone numbers, they will list off in as much detail as possible cases similar to yours.

Don’t be afraid to ask specific questions about what you’re interested in. If you want to know how much money you’ll get for your injury, be honest about that. They’re going to want to see how much documentation you already have, so bring that along with you.

Save police reports, x-rays, and photographs from the injury or the days following. The more information you can provide to them, the better they can represent you in your personal injury lawsuit.

4. Get a Free Consultation

Most reputable law firms will give you a consultation for free. Call their office and make an appointment with them.

If you find it’s hard to speak with them or you’re constantly getting the runaround, find another lawyer. You shouldn’t have trouble when you’re trying to talk to the person you’re going to be paying for representation.

Lawyers that don’t call you back, make you leave messages, or are rude over the phone aren’t worth your time. There are plenty of legal fish in the sea, so feel free to keep moving if they don’t give you what you need.

This first meeting should be free. If not, they should be able to give you a digital or email consultation by looking at the information that you send them.

5. Check Their Contingency Policy

Every reputable personal injury attorney should be able to offer you a contingency payment plan. If they’re going to take your case, it’s because they see you in pain, just trying to get your bills paid for. They know what you’ve been through and they want to see you get the justice you deserve.

Rather than trying to make a ton of money from you, they’ll wait until you get paid before they get paid. By looking at your case, they should be able to tell how strong of a case you have.

When they agree to contingency payment, make sure that you feel their percentage is fair. You’ll still have to pay off your bills, pay court fees, and compensate yourself for any lost work during this period.

This law firm can help you ensure that you get as much as you deserve from your personal injury case.

Lawyers for Personal Injury Aren’t Created Equal

When searching through all of the lawyers for personal injury out there, you’ll soon start to notice there are some vast differences. With the wide range in quality of lawyers out there, there’s no telling who you’ll end up in bed with. If you make the wrong choice, you could end up losing money rather than getting your bills paid.

If you’ve been injured in a car accident, check out our guide on what to do in the moments and days afterward.