If you’re having heart issues, you don’t schedule an appointment with a foot doctor. The same logic applies to hiring a lawyer after a serious car accident. If you or a loved one was hurt in the c0llision, you probably shouldn’t call your tax attorney for help. You should contact an experienced attorney specializing in personal injury law.
Personal Injury Law is Complex
Some people may think, “car accident cases are easy, any lawyer can handle them.” This is wrong on so many levels. Personal injury law can be quite complex. For example, if you were involved in a multi-vehicle collision, there are could be multiple insurance carriers that need to be contacted to determine available coverage and which party is liable for the harms caused by the wreck. There is vital evidence that mus tbe collected and you can be quite certain each insurance company involved is going to have a defense attorney ready to try and minimize your claim.
What if the driver who hit you does not have auto insurance, or has minimal coverage? A general practitioner may not understand the nuances of uninsured and underinsured motorist law. What about potentially stacking your medical expense benefits? Again, this is where hiring an experienced Norfolk personal injury lawyer pays dividends.
Lawyers are not “one-size-fits-all.” In fact, most attorneys are specialists. When a lawyer specializes in personal injury law, it means they spend the majority of their days representing injured folks in their time of need. They understand how to negotiate with claims adjusters and are not afraid to take your case all the way to trial.
Reputation Matters to the Insurance Companies
If you file an injury claim with an insurnace company, even your own insurance company, a component of their evaluation of your claim may be the experience and success rate of the attorney you hired. If your lawyer has a track record of taking cases to trial and getting large verdicts, that is likely to play a factor in the insurance company’s calculus for whether to settle your claim or not. This is why hiring a highly experienced Norfolk car accident lawyer is such a tremendous benefit.
I’m on a Budget – Can I Really Afford an Experienced Car Accident Lawyer?
Yes. The vast majority of personal injury attorneys in Norfolk, Virginia and across the Hampton Roads region work on a contingency fee basis. This basically means that you can hire an experienced car accident lawyer without paying anything up front and your lawyer will only get compensated when, or if, your case gets resolved through a settlement, judgment, or jury verdict. This means hiring a seasoned personal injury attorney is a low risk, high reward proposition.
To learn more, check out this informative video featuring two experienced Virginia personal injury attorneys.
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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