Always hire the best and most qualified attorney available to handle your personal injury claim. The fee charged by the best and the inexperienced is usually the same. I have adopted a saying: “if you want to spend a lot of money, then hire an amateur.” In the lawyer hiring process, that saying could be, if you want to lose a lot of money (leave a lot of settlement money in the insurance company coffers), then hire an attorney who is not board certified in personal injury trial law by The Texas Board of Legal Specialization.
Who is the best? The Texas Board of Legal Specialization has certified attorneys in the specialty of personal injury trial law. You would be best served by keeping your search limited to such board certified attorneys.
The current Austin area AT&T Yellow Pages has 52 pages that list attorneys. A very small percentage of those listed attorneys are board certified. If a listed attorney is board certified in personal injury trial law by The Texas Board of Legal Specialization, you can be sure that their yellow page listing will prominently state that they are board certified.
The Texas Board of Legal Specialization website lists 132 lawyers in Austin, Texas who are board certified in the field of personal injury trial law. A look at the list readily shows that many of those are now judges or attorneys who work exclusively or primarily defending insurance companies, healthcare providers, and product manufacturers.
The injury victim would be well served to make sure that whoever they consider hiring is board certified in personal injury trial law by The Texas Board of Legal Specialization.
According to The Texas Board of Legal Specialization website, the following is stated about the significance of board certification.
Personal injury litigation is the field of law that is based on an individual's injury from automobile accidents, professional malpractice, defective products, or negligence by another.
Board Certification is a mark of excellence and a distinguishing accomplishment.
Within the Texas legal community, Board Certification means an attorney has substantial, relevant experience in a select field of law as well as demonstrated, and tested, special competence in that area of law.
There are more than 70,000 attorneys licensed to practice in Texas. Only 7,000 are Board Certified. Board Certified lawyers earn the right to publicly represent themselves as a specialist in a select area of the law. In fact, they are the only attorneys allowed by the State Bar of Texas to do so. This designation sets them apart as being an attorney with the highest, public commitment to excellence in their area of law.
The process is voluntary and can only take place after an attorney has been in practice for five years, with a minimum of three years’ experience in the specialty area.
Moreover, Board Certification is not a one-time event. It requires an ongoing involvement in the specialty area which is periodically substantiated with references from peers in that field. It also requires annual professional refreshment through TBLS approved, continuing legal education course work to stay abreast of current trends in law.
Few Texas attorneys have answered the challenge laid down 36 years ago by the Supreme Court of Texas and the State Bar of Texas to "...serve the public interest and advance the standards of the legal profession." We invite you to connect with a Board Certified attorney today.
The fee you pay for representation in a personal injury matter is usually and customarily a contingent fee. The most customary fee is one-third if a case settles without the necessity of a lawsuit, and forty percent if a lawsuit is filed. However, in many cases the amount of a contingent fee is negotiable.
The board-certified personal injury specialist has proven trial results. The non-certified attorney may never have tried a case to a verdict, but settle everything. The insurance companies know which attorneys do not try cases to a verdict, and the settlement value of cases handled by those attorneys is usually a lot less than the same case would settle for if being handled by a board certified attorney with a proven track record of winning cases tried to a jury.
If you want to maximize the amount of your recovery, you will almost always do better by hiring a board certified attorney.