A birth injury claim is a serious legal matter, and it’s essential to find the right legal representative to handle your case. If you need a birth injury attorney in San Diego, there are several steps you should take before making any kind of contractual commitment for representation. Hiring the wrong attorney could potentially lead to substantially less compensation than a better attorney could have secured on your behalf. Ultimately, you must develop a series of questions for a potential birth injury attorney and compare responses from several different lawyers to make a fully informed decision about your legal representation.

Keep a few key criteria in mind as you develop questions for potential birth injury attorneys. Every birth injury case is different, and every plaintiff’s situation is unique, so remember to develop questions that are tailored to your specific circumstances.

Choose a Birth Injury Attorney With Experience

There are many talented attorneys fresh out of law school practicing throughout the country with great success. However, complex and emotionally challenging cases, like birth injury claims, demand an experienced legal representative. You should not only look for a medical malpractice attorney with several years of experience and a solid case record, but also a lawyer who specializes in birth injury claims.

Birth injury claims often involve long-term damages, and your attorney should carefully evaluate every potential channel of compensation open in your claim. An experienced birth injury attorney will also likely have professional contacts who specialize in relevant medical fields and may act as expert witnesses to support your case.

Ask a Potential Attorney About Their Experience and Outlook for Your Case

If you decide to take advantage of a potential attorney’s consultation offer, you should ask them how many cases they have handled successfully in the past that were similar to your own case. The attorney should be able to provide a general breakdown of how they expect your case to unfold and similarities between elements of your case and past cases they have handled.

It’s a good idea to ask for a frank interpretation of your case from the attorney. A good attorney will tell you whether they believe your case has merit and the likelihood of succeeding with it. They should also be able to draw on their professional experience and tell you which obstacles you may encounter on your path to recovery and unique challenges your birth injury claim entails.

Understand the Attorney’s Billing Policy

Many medical malpractice attorneys offer contingency fee billing, which basically ensures the plaintiff owes nothing in legal fees if the lawyer loses their case. A contingency fee, as the term suggests, is contingent upon the attorney securing compensation for the client. The attorney’s fee is paid in the form of a percentage of the case award.

Other attorneys may bill by the hour for their services or require retainer fees to accept your case. It’s vital to understand the potential attorney’s billing terms and make an informed decision, so you can handle the cost of representing your case.

Assess the Attorney’s Connections

One of the most important factors of any birth injury case is expert witness testimony. Expert witnesses can answer specific questions for medical malpractice attorneys or help them understand certain details of their cases more clearly. Other expert witnesses may participate in the trial as testifying expert witnesses, explaining advanced and esoteric concepts at a professional level in a way the members of the court can understand.

Your birth injury lawyer should have an extensive list of medical professionals and other expert witnesses they can call upon to support your birth injury claim. Whether you need to consult a medical expert about the potential long-term costs of a birth injury or a forensic accountant to answer detailed financial questions, working with a birth injury attorney with an extensive professional contact list is always best.

Research Independently

You can learn a lot about a prospective attorney by meeting with them in a consultation. However, it’s a good idea to begin your search for a birth injury lawyer by researching reviews and testimonials from past birth injury clients in your area. Look up the most positively reviewed law firms in your area and check the testimonials posted on firms’ websites as well as those posted to Google and other third-party sites. This should help you narrow down your search for a birth injury attorney to a few solid candidates.

Once you have formed a list of potential birth injury attorneys to hire, start developing the questions you will need to ask during your consultations. Ultimately, it’s best to choose the attorney who inspires you with the most confidence about your claim as long as they have a solid track record and clear billing policy. If you need to discuss a birth injury case with an experienced birth injury lawyer in San Diego, contact Kenneth M. Sigelman & Associates today to arrange your case review with our team.