The Answer Can Mean Making or Losing Money
I got a call from a guy last week and he said that he was going to talk to five or six lawyers and decide based on who he liked the best. During the conversation he said he was just doing it because he wants to cover all his bases and he wants to talk to see what people say about his case.
But it doesn't really matter because all injury lawyers are exactly the same. They do whatever they do and then they get the same amount from the insurance companies.
All injury lawyers are not the same.
The first thing I want to tell you is that there are major advertisers in the Chicago market and based on me talking to my lawyer friends who are out of State, in other places, there are major advertisers in every state and the person on the billboard or the tv screen. If you're older like me, you remember the yellow pages and stuff those lawyers are the face of the organization. But it is very unlikely you're ever going to talk to them and it's very unlikely they're ever going to know who you are the way the business of law works.
For a lot of people, they sign up cases and they don't ever really work on any themselves. They sign them up and refer them all out or they sign them up and they have attorneys under them who do all the work. If you like the attorney on tv or think the attorney on the billboard looks like a nice person, just be aware that it is highly unlikely that they're ever going to know who you are. You're probably never going to talk to them and if you meet them, they're going to smile at you, shake your hand, and you're probably never going to remember. They're probably never going to talk to you again or think about you again. So, that's the first thing to know, just because a big spender is all over the internet, it doesn't necessarily mean that that attorney is going to handle your case or do anything on your case frankly.
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Attorneys Have Specializations
The other thing I wanted to let you know is not all lawyers are the same. So, in the State of Illinois, and this is true in most states, but any lawyer can do any kind of legal work. Let's say an attorney gets out of a law school. Some focused on doing real estate, then goes into practice, does real estate closings, and just does real estate well. They can do that and then the minute they hear about an injury case, they can talk to you and say,
"Oh yeah, no problem. I can handle it for you know I can. Yeah, injury cases, no problem. I’m qualified to do injury cases."
Then what happens is they sign up your case and some of them make some kind of effort to settle the case. Then they refer it out to somebody who does injury work. So, my point is it is ethical for a lawyer to sign up any kind of case. I want to tell you a little bit about how we do things that are different.
We Specialize In Injuries
First, the only thing we do are injuries. We do work injuries, car crash, nursing home abuse, fall down cases, dog bite cases, medical malpractice cases, but the common element in the cases we focus on is just injury. So, you're not going to see me at a real estate closing. You're not going to see me in criminal court. You're not going to see me in traffic court. You're not going to see me negotiating a contract or anything like that. Because from the very first time I became a lawyer, I focused 100% on injured people and helping injured people. Like the number of procedures, laws and rules that pertain to a particular area of law.
It's a lot and my advice to young lawyers is decide what you want to do, so you can spend few years early in your career figuring out what you enjoy doing. But past that, you really should start becoming somewhat of a specialist in the law. Because that's how you're going to get good in your field. And a lawyer who gets really good in his or her field can get great results.
That sort of addresses what this gentleman was saying is that he thinks all lawyers are basically the same, we're really not. In my office, we sign up a case, we do a ton of investigation early on all my cases. We get a medical summary prepared, a detailed medical summary, and we write the longest most detailed demand letters in the business.
I worked at several law firms and I’m friends with other lawyers. And I’m very familiar with what other lawyers send out as a demand letter to try and get an offer from the insurance company, and I will tell you, I didn't move to the new format and devised the new format until I had been a lawyer for probably 15 years or more, but it really works. We get offers right away and we get much bigger and better offers for people than I did back when I was using a typical demand letter. And doing a detailed medical summary, I can't tell you the number of times I found additional medical treaters and additional treatment that we otherwise would have missed, and that the client didn't tell me about. Obviously, that adds to the value of the case.
Why I Became A Lawyer
The last way, I would say my firm is different is you know you can watch some of my other videos as to why I became a lawyer and the situation with my dad being disabled. But the number one thing I do, and I tell my people to do, and increasingly as I’ve gotten busier, I need my employees to help me with returning their calls. Did you know, the number one complaint about lawyers is they don't keep their clients informed, and they don't return their clients phone calls. Well, not at my office, I’m not perfect, but I will tell you I don't know of any other law firm that makes it as high a priority to stay in touch with the client as we do in my office.
So, I hope that gives you a little perspective as to why lawyers that you might be familiar with or that you might have seen are not necessarily all the same. And what should you be looking for in a lawyer is a lawyer who actually talks to you. A lawyer who will actually be working on your case personally, and a lawyer who will always call you back, and always be honest.
And the last thing I would say is work with somebody who you are personally comfortable with. My personal preference if I needed a lawyer would be to talk to somebody who I vibe with, like we communicate. They seem normal and they talk to me. Normally, they don't put on airs, they don't act like a big shot. As much as lawyers want to believe that they're reinventing the wheel with every injury case, it's not the case, it's not the truth. If you've got a lawyer who isn't explaining it to you, they're not doing their job.
If you need a lawyer, or you need somebody who might need a lawyer, please refer them to me you can always call. You can reach out to me if you have any question, give me a call 312-500-4500.
