Danger Will Robinson! Why You Shouldn’t Hire A “TV” Lawyer.

How do I Find a Good Personal Injury Lawyer?

A serious injury can completely derail your life. It can cause excruciating physical pain and can be otherwise physically debilitating. It can make it impossible to work, to support yourself and your family, and even to take very basic care of yourself. Anyone who has been seriously injured knows that medical costs can quickly become unmanageable, as can cost of living expenses without the ability to work.

If your injury was not your fault and was caused by another person’s negligent actions, you may find yourself unjustly shouldering the costs of medical care and being unable to work. However, it doesn’t have to be that way. You may be entitled to damages from the person who is actually responsible for your injuries. If someone else is found liable, they (and their insurers) may be compelled to cover your medical expense and lost work expenses, as well as to provide financial renumeration for all of the pain and suffering you and your loved ones have experienced. This means that there is potentially a way out from underneath the avalanche of financial worry that often accompanies serious injury or illness, and a way forward so that you can start to move on with your life.

In order to seek damages in a personal injury case, you need a personal injury lawyer. However, not all personal injury lawyers are created equal. Unfortunately, the personal injury field has plenty of bad-faith lawyers who are much more concerned with their own bottom lines than with actually getting you the settlement you deserve.

It is therefore essential to know what you are looking for, and to know how to discern the good from the bad when it comes to personal injury attorneys. To that end, there are several things to look out for when picking out a personal injury attorney for your case.

• Choose a Personal Injury Specialist: Many attorneys function as all-purpose lawyers, without any area or even areas of specific expertise. This can get their clients into trouble, since they do not have the depth of knowledge required to really know what they are doing in any one specific field. Make sure your attorney has specialized in personal injury to some extent, and therefore will be able to competently represent your case.

• Make Sure They Have Experience: Everyone has to start somewhere, and attorneys learn by doing. This means that you may wind up with an attorney who is more toward the beginning of their career than the end of their career. This is fine, so long as they actually do have some measure of experience. You do not want to be an attorney’s guinea pig for their very first case. Rather, you want an attorney who is practiced and well-versed in personal injury cases, both in and out of trial.
• Ask About Their Track Record: One of the best ways to tell if an attorney has what it takes to get you the settlement you need is to ask how their cases have gone in the past. Ask about the number of settlements the attorney has under their belt, and what those cases have settled for. Make sure their track record matches the sort of settlement you feel you are entitled to.
• Make Sure They Are Ready to Go to Trial if Necessary: A good deal of personal injury cases never make it to trial. They often settle outside of court, to avoid the time and expense of an extended trial. However, some cases do go to court. When picking a personal injury attorney, you want to make sure that the attorney is actually ready and able to represent you in court. Make sure they have at least some recent court experience under their belt to avoid being their very first practice case.
• Look for Membership in State and National Lawyer Groups and Associations: When interviewing your attorney, ask them if they are a member of any lawyer groups, especially personal injury trial lawyer groups. It is a good sign if an attorney is a member of one or several of these groups, since it shows that they are in good standing with the legal community and that they are continually engaging and learning from fellow personal injury attorneys.
• Ask to Talk to Past Clients: An experienced attorney who has a good track record should have a number of clients who are willing to speak to the attorney’s skill and professionalism. If you are considering an attorney, ask to speak to a past client as a reference. They should be able to happily provide one.

Your personal injury case is incredibly important to your sustained health, happiness, and future, as well as that of your family. It is therefore essential that you pick an experienced, knowledgeable, and skillful personal injury attorney to represent you and your case, and to ensure that you get the full, just settlement that you deserve.

In Savannah, Georgia, the right man for the job is Personal Injury Attorney Joe Cronk. Attorney Cronk, alongside the rest of the staff at the Law Offices of Harold J. Cronk, is ready, willing, and able to help you with your personal injury case. He has years of experience in personal injury law to bring to the table, and believes strongly that people who have been injured through no fault of their own deserve to be supported through their recovery. Don’t wait. Call (912) 236-4878 for a consultation on your case today.

You are trying to watch your favorite football team or television program, but you are constantly inundated with lawyer ads. One after another, they all claim to be the best lawyer in Savannah. Some of the commercials are ridiculous, some are boring; but all of them are annoying. When a lawyer is on television, some people tend to think that lawyer is a “better” lawyer than others. In many cases, that couldn’t be further from the truth. In this blog post, I will tell you a few things to watch out for with television lawyers, and why you should choose a local lawyer with knowledge, skill, and most importantly a personal relationship with you.

Many Television Lawyers Are Not In Savannah

Many television lawyers are not even in Savannah, even though they run commercials here.  For instance, Morgan and Morgan has their main office in Orlando, Florida.  Ken Nugent has his main office in Augusta, Georgia.  The Dozier Law Group has its main office in Macon, Georgia.  Many lawyers on television are from as far away as Atlanta, Boston, or California!  It is important to know where an attorney is located because a local attorney knows the judicial system in his circuit.  Lawyers from out of town are at a disadvantage in this jurisdicition,  which will result in a lower settlement or jury award for their clients.  The final thing you should know about out of town lawyers is that you will never meet them, you will get whatever low level lawyer or paralegal they decide to fluff off on you.  If you want the personal touch, you should hire a local attorney.  At the Law Offices of Harold J. Cronk, we have been serving the Savannah area for over 30 years, and we are right here in Savannah.

Many Television Lawyers Run Injury Factories

Many Television Lawyers operate on the principle that they need a large amount of clients whose cases are settled quickly in order to justify their large advertising budgets.  They literally need the money to continue to make television ads.  This has encouraged bad behavior from these lawyers, from illegal client recruitment drives to forcing settlements without the client’s permission.  Most recently, Mike Hostilo was sued for allegations of malpractice and forging client’s signatures in order to reach a settlement.  To these types of firms, you are just a number.  A number that needs to be dealt with quickly.  A quick settlement will most likely cut your recovery by 60 percent or more.  Don’t let a big television firm have a paralegal settle your case for peanuts so that the firm can pay its advertising budget and for golf trips for its CEO.  At the Law Offices of Harold J. Cronk, we provide personal service on every case.  We will deal with your case as long as it takes to reach a settlement that all parties agree is fair and equitable.  We will fight for you, not turn you and burn you.

Many Television Lawyers Do Not Give You the Expertise You Deserve

If you hire a television lawyer, you are not likely to ever meet the lawyer you supposedly hired.  Your case will end up with a junior associate right out of law school IF you are lucky, or a paralegal IF you are unlucky.  These low level workers have marching orders to settle a certain amount of cases either monthly or quarterly.  These settlements will not be for what you deserve in your case.  It is just more money for the television firm to pay their enormous overhead.  These firms frequently drive up expenses as well so that they can charge their clients on the backend as well as the front.  A 10,000 dollar case at a televsion lawyer’s firm could easily see the client take home 2000 dollars and the firm take home 8000 dollars.  At the Law Offices of Harold J. Cronk, we find it unconscionable to make more money than our clients.

Make the Right Choice.  Make the Local Choice

Don’t be taken advantage of by an out of town, unscrupulous television lawyer.  Don’t let a locally operated injury factory turn your case into their bottom line either.  Hire a local lawyer with experience in this jurisdiction, who knows the judges and court personnel, and who can give you the local edge.  Hire a local attorney who is knowledgeable, skilled, and cares personally about you and your case.  Hire a local attorney who will treat you fairly.  At the Law Offices of Harold J. Cronk, we embody all those things.  Please call us today.  Make the right choice.