Choosing the right attorney to handle your injury case is an important decision. You shouldn’t just take anyone who claims to do injury work off the TV. Many of the best personal injury lawyers do not advertise on TV (because they do not have to). The kinds of clients who use the television to select their personal injury lawyer are often the least informed consumers.
For example, if you want to find a good plumber, you would be better off asking a neighbor who they have used to find someone who is honest and reliable. Likewise, asking real injured persons or families who have suffered a wrongful death caused by someone else’s fault are the best sources of referral to a good attorney.
With the advent of the internet, it is easier for a consumer to do real research to find the right personal injury lawyer. My law firm spends a lot of time to put content on this blog to help people get in the hands of a competent lawyer for their case. By looking at someone’s website, you get a sense of how professional they are and what kinds of cases they regularly work on.
An older method of checking on attorneys was using Martindale-Hubbell. This is a big book that you can find at the library which rated attorneys. Luckily, this system is now available online, as well. It is the primary method by which lawyers in one geographic area find other good lawyers to refer cases to in another region of the country. I happily can report that I am rated as an AV lawyer under the Martindale-Hubbell system. This means that other attorneys (not at my firm) and judges in the area believe that I possess the highest level of legal skill and ethics. This is a strong endorsement. You can only get an AV rating after having practiced for quite a number of years. It is one indication to injured people that I and my law firm know what we are doing in the area of personal injury law and trial work.
Some people hurt in a car wreck go to any lawyer that they happen to know, even one who does not specialize in personal injury and wrongful death cases. For example, a potential client might chose an attorney based upon the real estate lawyer that they used on a closing on their house. This is dangerous. There are many attorneys who will take an automobile case thinking that they can handle it and that it is easy to do. Unless the lawyer’s practice focuses on personal injury cases, there are many traps for the unwary. The potential client is the one who could potentially lose out, because the attorney who is not specialized may not know what they need to know in order to maximize the recovery. I am always amazed how specialized the field of law has become. I do not do divorce cases or collection practice. When someone has a need in those areas, I send them to a friend who focuses on that area of law. Many of my friends who have similarly focused practices are smart and do not try to do vehicular collision cases, but send those to someone like me whose practice emphasizes that work. One of the things I am proudest of in my practice is that my law partners and I get many referrals from other lawyers who recognize that we have special expertise in automobile accidents, railroad wrongful death, medical malpractice, and other areas of injury related work.
Rick Shapiro has practiced personal injury law for over 30 years in Virginia, North Carolina, and throughout the Southeastern United States. He is a Board-Certified Civil Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy (ABA Accredited) and has litigated injury cases throughout the eastern United States, including wrongful death, trucking, faulty products, railroad, and medical negligence claims. During his three-decade career, Shapiro has won client appeals before the VA Supreme Court, VA Court of Appeals, NC Supreme Court, SC Supreme Court, WV Supreme Court, TN Supreme Court, and three times before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, underscoring Shapiro’s trial achievements. In addition, he and his law firm have won settlements/verdicts in excess of $100 million. His success in and out of the courtroom is a big reason why he was named 2019 “Lawyer of the Year” in railroad law in U.S. News & World Report's Best Lawyers publication (Norfolk, VA area), and he has been named a “Best Lawyer” and “Super Lawyer” by those peer-reviewed organizations for multiple years. Rick was also named a “Leader in the Law, Class of 2022” by Virginia Lawyers Weekly (total of 33 statewide honorees consisting of lawyers and judges across Virginia). And in September 2023, Rick was selected as a recipient of the National Board of Trial Advocacy (NBTA) 2023 President’s Award. Although many nominations were submitted from across the country, Rick was just one of eight attorneys chosen by the prestigious National Board which certifies civil trial attorneys across the U.S. Rick was also recently named to Virginia Lawyers Weekly 2024 Virginia’s Go To Lawyers Medical Malpractice. The attorneys awarded this honor are nominated by their colleagues and chosen by a panel from the publication.
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