Plaintiff Attorney Legal Information CenterThis website seeks to provide personal injury lawyers with forms, procedures, and protocols to help you get your claims moved through the pipeline as efficiently as possible. With most of what we do, you should not have to reinvent the wheel.
This starts at the beginning with the intake forms provided below. Long before you need to set out the necessary allocation of resources on a case basis and devise a litigation plan, you need to find out whether you have a viable claim.
The biggest difference between successful and unsuccessful personal injury lawyers is in the quality of the cases they get. Sure, much of this is a function of how many leads you get. Our firm kisses a lot of frogs to find our prince and princesses. The more cases you have to review the better your cases will be.
- Sample fee agreement (non-med mal)
- Sample malpractice fee agreement
- Personal Injury Blank Client Intake
- Getting Witnesses’ Recorded Statements
- Medical Malpractice / Wrongful Death Intake Form
But many of those good cases we pick out of the ocean are cases other law firms have rejected. Similarly, Miller & Zois has done a solid job of getting rid of cases that cannot be won or instances in which the economics do not make sense. Now, you cannot eliminate this entirely. Cases that seem like great claims turn bad. But more often than not, you can figure out the good from the bad in the selection process.
One mistake that people make in the intake process is the same mistake lawyers make in a deposition: failing to follow-up. Sometimes, you are so eager to get the case (or you are just on autopilot) that you roll down the intake sheet without following up on the red flags that might tell you it is not a case.
It is a fine line, right? We are always grateful for any inquiries, and we certainly do not want to cross-examine this person that has reached out to us. But we spend a lot of time and money on these cases. If there is a fatal flaw in a claim, our lawyers need to know that sooner rather than later.
The only other tip that is worth keeping in mind is that you are not the only lawyer in town. There are other qualified lawyers that the client may be talking to about handling her claim. If you treat people like they are a number, not a name, you are not establishing a relationship that is going to endure over the course of the claim.
It is important to earn the client’s credibility from the beginning, which means that you will not only get the case but get the claim off to the right start. Personal injury cases can be battles. There are often highs and lows over the course of many of these claims. When you treat people correctly from the start, they are going to give you the benefit of the doubt when you say you have done everything imaginable to get the surgical records in as fast as possible to send out the demand package.
Good luck! If you have a serious injury or wrongful death case and are looking for experienced co-counsel to fight with you, call Ron Miller at 800-553-8082.