When you’ve been injured in a car accident, it can be hard to know where to turn for help. As you browse the internet or sit up late at night watching television and worrying about your medical bills, you’ll see many enticing advertisements. You may be invited to call a toll-free number to get connected with a personal injury lawyer or hear that a huge national injury law firm has handled tens of thousands of cases.
Calling an 800 number and being passed along to a specific attorney sounds easy, and tens of thousands of cases sounds impressive. But there are a few things you should know about each path before you choose your personal injury lawyer.
When you’re looking at a website or watching a television ad, and you’re invited to call or fill out a form if you need a personal injury lawyer, pay close attention. Did they say they were attorneys or call themselves a law firm? Maybe there was even a small disclaimer that warned you that they weren’t a law firm?
Many websites that invite you to make contact to connect with a personal injury lawyer are lead generation (lead gen) sites. The businesses behind these sites aren’t law firms. They make their money by drawing injured people to the site, collecting their information, and then selling it to law firms. In other words, you’re the product. They’re not connecting you to a lawyer they think is a good fit for your case. In fact, in most circumstances, they are legally prohibited from recommending a particular lawyer. The law firm you hear from will be the one who paid for your contact information.
Sometimes, the person you hear from will be a local Jacksonville personal injury lawyer. But not always. The firm that purchased your contact information might be a couple of counties away, or may even be a large national law firm.
Most of us do a lot of remote business today, from shopping online to multi-state Zoom meetings and even telehealth and online counseling appointments. So, why would you draw the line at personal injury lawyers?
Hiring a personal injury lawyer to potentially file a lawsuit for you is very different from having a bookkeeper who works from home in another state or calling an IT help line across (or even outside the country).
When you hire an experienced personal injury attorney in Jacksonville, you’re not just getting experience with the law. That local attorney also has:
In other words, a Jacksonville personal injury lawyer knows what to expect in a Duval County personal injury case. They know what to expect from the judge, from the insurance company, from opposing counsel, and even from local juries. Just as important, they know what’s expected of them: how many days they have to file each type of pleading or response, local rules governing the discovery process (exchange of evidence between the parties), page count restrictions for different types of motions and pleadings and other local rules.
To handle a case in the Jacksonville courts, an attorney must either be licensed to practice law in the state of Florida or work with local counsel and get permission from the court to appear. But being licensed in Florida doesn’t necessarily mean that the attorney lives or works in Florida, let alone in the Jacksonville area.
Some national firms have attorneys who are licensed in several states, just to ensure that they are able to take on cases in those states. But they may never have had a case in the Duval County courts before, or may only file a local case once every few years. With their attention divided among cases in multiple states, it’s very difficult to develop the depth of knowledge a local Jacksonville personal injury lawyer brings to the table.
Taking a case to trial is also often more difficult and expensive for a national firm, since attorneys will have to travel to try the case. That can be a disincentive to go to trial, which could mean settling for less than you deserve.
Some of the reasons it’s usually best to hire a local personal injury attorney are obvious in the contrast with national law firms above. An experienced local lawyer has in-depth knowledge and experience with the regular participants in local personal injury cases and will be well-versed in local rules and the preferences of local judges. But those aren’t the only reasons it’s useful to work with an attorney with offices in or near Jacksonville.
A local personal injury lawyer will also have knowledge relevant to your case just from being part of the community. For example, if you’ve been injured in a car accident at a dangerous intersection where serious accidents frequently occur, your attorney will likely be familiar with that intersection and what makes it dangerous. Your lawyer will also be able to look at the accident scene if that’s useful, and to look for or send someone to look for any cameras that may have captured the accident. A long-time local injury law firm is also more likely to have relationships with a network of local experts to help build a strong case on your behalf.
Our law firm’s roots in Jacksonville reach back more than 30 years. Our firm, Harrell & Harrell, P.A., was founded in 1991. We are deeply committed to serving injury victims in and around Jacksonville, and bring extensive experience with both personal injury law and the local courts to the table.
To learn more about how we can help you after an injury, call (904) 251-1111 or fill out our contact form right now. The initial consultation is free and there’s no obligation.
"*" indicates required fields
