It is not uncommon for the Norfolk personal injury lawyers at Shapiro, Washburn & Sharp to work with other law firms on cases that begin with their firm to help their client successfully recover on a personal injury case. When this happens, the relationship with the other firm is usually referred to as a “referral” or “association.”
Referral
Unless an accident victim has been injured in some prior incident, they often do not have a personal injury attorney in their phone contacts. However, they may have an attorney they can call who has handled past issues for them, such as family law, estate planning, or other legal issues. When this is the case, the victim will likely contact that attorney to help with their accident claim or lawsuit. That attorney may even begin the legal process of preparing and filing the accident claim against the party responsible for the victim’s injuries to pursue damages for their losses.
At some point during this process, the attorney and/or the victim may realize that the odds of obtaining a fair and just settlement would greatly increase if the case were being handled by an attorney who specializes in personal injury law. This is where a “referral” often comes in. A referral usually means our firm assumes primary responsibility for pursuing the claim on behalf of the client, the referring firm typically provides info on the incident giving rise to the claim and damages up to the point of the referral and our firm usually takes over the case from that point.
Referral practice encourages law firms unfamiliar with an area of law, such as civil litigation, to work with qualified law firms like ours to achieve a good result for the client. In most cases, referrals come from firms that do not handle many significant personal injury cases or don’t usually handle cases in our geographic area.
It often involves our firm paying a portion of the attorney’s fee to the referring law firm, depending on how much work it has already done on the case. The attorney fees charged to the client are not increased by the referral.
Association
“Association” works a bit differently. Association usually means the firm that began handling the case remains involved in the preparation and trial of the case. Both law firms work together and usually identify specific aspects of the preparation and trial each firm will be responsible for handling.
In most association cases our personal injury law firm has worked with, law firms usually become associated on a case when the originating firm isn’t as familiar with a specific area of the law/case as our personal injury attorneys are.
The firms that associate to handle a case agree on how the attorney’s fee will be divided between them, and once again, the overall attorney’s fee for the client is not increased. Instead, the client gets two law firms for the original cost of one.
Referrals and associations are made with the client’s best interest at heart. The purpose is to ensure that the client has qualified counsel representing them.
Call Our Personal Injury Law Firm for Help
If you or a family member has been injured in an accident caused by another party, contact a seasoned Norfolk personal injury attorney to discuss what legal recourse you may have. Even if it is not entirely clear who the at-fault party is, an injury attorney can determine which party or parties are liable.
The legal team from Shapiro, Washburn & Sharp has been advocating for injured clients since 1985 and will do all we can to ensure you receive the best possible outcome under the circumstances of your case. This is why our firm has obtained more than $100 million in settlements and verdicts for our clients. If you would like to meet with one of our skilled car accident attorneys to find out how we can help, contact us today for a free consultation.
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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.
