Three things tell you most of what you need to know, and you can check all of them before you sign anything. Who will actually work on your case, whether the firm intends to keep it or pass it to somebody else, and whether the fee agreement says what you were told it says.
None of that requires you to understand injury law. It requires you to ask four or five questions and read one document.
This article is by Accident Lawyer of California, P.C., the personal injury practice of Aryan Aliakbarzadeh, Esq. in Northridge, California, admitted to the State Bar of California in October 2012. It describes how these cases work in California; it is not advice about yours.
Who will actually handle your case Link to this section
Ask for a name, not a firm. Then ask who you will be speaking to as the case runs, and whether that person is a lawyer.
There is nothing wrong with support staff doing support work. Every functioning practice runs on it. The thing worth knowing is whether the lawyer whose name is on the advertising will be the one who reads your medical records, speaks to the adjuster and makes the decisions, or whether you have signed with a firm where you may never speak to a lawyer at all.
A solo or small practice will usually say the lawyer. A very large advertiser may say a case manager. Both are legitimate business models. Only one of them is what most people think they are buying.
Whether the case is staying in the building Link to this section
This is the question almost nobody asks, and California gives you a specific right about it.
Some firms advertise heavily, sign a large number of cases, and then refer out the ones they do not intend to run, taking a share of the fee. That is lawful in California. A referral fee paid to a lawyer who does no work on the case is permitted.
What is not permitted is doing it without telling you properly. Rule 1.5.1 of the California Rules of Professional Conduct requires, before you consent, written disclosure that a fee division will occur, the identity of the lawyers or firms who will share it, and the terms of the division. It then requires your consent in writing.
The standard is stricter than it sounds. Oral consent is not enough. Silence is not enough. A signed acknowledgment that you have read a letter describing the arrangement has been held not to be consent either. And the total fee you pay cannot go up just because it is being split.
So the question is simply whether the firm expects to keep the case, and if the answer is anything other than yes, you are entitled to the written detail before you agree rather than after.
One phrase in legal advertising has a formal definition Link to this section
The phrase has a defined meaning in California. The State Bar’s Board of Legal Specialization, or another entity the State Bar approves, issues specialist certificates, under rule 9.35 of the California Rules of Court. A certified specialist is a lawyer holding a current certificate from one of those bodies.
Two things follow, and they cut in both directions.
Certification is not required to practice in any field. Rule 9.35 says so directly. Any California attorney may handle any type of case, whether or not they hold a certificate.
But the term itself is defined, which means it is capable of being used loosely. If a firm’s advertising leans on words in that family, it is worth knowing they describe a specific credential rather than a general level of skill, and worth asking which it is.
Read the fee agreement, because the law makes it tell you things Link to this section
California requires a contingency fee agreement to be in writing, and requires you to be handed a signed duplicate when you sign it. That is Business and Professions Code section 6147.
The same section requires the agreement to state the rate, to explain how the costs of running the case affect both the fee and your recovery, to state any circumstances in which you could owe the lawyer for related matters outside the agreement, and, for ordinary injury claims, to state plainly that the fee is not set by law and is negotiable.
If the agreement does not comply, subdivision (b) makes it voidable at your option, and the lawyer is then limited to a reasonable fee rather than the percentage.
Which gives you a straightforward test. Read the agreement and see whether it matches the conversation. What it costs and what the agreement must contain is covered in more detail in what a personal injury lawyer costs in California.
The signs that are actually warning signs Link to this section
Pressure to sign on the first contact. There is no injury deadline in California short enough to justify it.
Refusing to let you take the agreement away and read it.
No clear answer on what happens to the costs if the case does not succeed.
Being told the percentage is standard, or fixed, or set by the state. It is none of those things and the agreement is required to say so.
Vagueness about who will handle the case, or an answer that changes.
Someone contacting you at the hospital or at home within days of the collision without you having asked. Whoever gave them your details, that is not how a practice you want is built.
Any discussion of what your case is worth before anybody has seen your medical records. Nobody can value an injury claim they have not read, and a number offered early is a sales tool.
The signs that are not warning signs Link to this section
Advertising. Lawyers in California are allowed to advertise, and a firm having a billboard tells you about its marketing budget and nothing about its work.
A contingency fee. That is the normal structure for injury work and it exists because the lawyer carries the risk.
Being turned down. A firm that declines a case it does not believe in is being more useful to you than one that signs everything, and a straight answer about a weak claim is worth more than a signature. This is the same question as whether you need a lawyer at all, which for some claims the honest answer is no.
Wanting to see your records before saying much. That is the correct order.
If you want to ask those questions of somebody and get direct answers, Aryan Aliakbarzadeh, Esq. takes the call himself. He handles injury claims across Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley, and there is nothing to sign on a first call. Call or text 818-718-2522, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, or use the contact page.