- Home
- About The Firm
- Do I Have a Medical Malpractice Case?
- Types of Medical Malpractice Cases
- Choosing your lawyer and working with him effectively
- When Do I need a Lawyer for My Medical Malpractice Case?
- How Do I Choose My Lawyer?
- What Questions Do I Ask When Choosing a Lawyer?
- Meeting With Your Lawyer
- How Do Lawyers Determine the Value of My Case?
- How Do I Effectively Work With My Lawyer?
- What is the Attorney Client Privilege?
- What are the Ethical Rules for Lawyers?
- What is a Contingency Fee?
- When and How Do I Fire My Lawyer?
- Screening the case
- Recoverable Damages in Medical Malpractice Cases
- Fees and Costs in Medical Malpractice Cases
- The Legal Process
- Medical Review Panels
- Litigation, Trial and Appeal of Medical Malpractice Cases
- How Does My Case Proceed?
- What is Discovery
- What is Evidence?
- What Motions Are Filed in My Case?
- The Value and Settlement of My Case
- Will my Case Likely Settle?
- Do these Cases Often Settle?
- How Do Lawyers Determine the Value of My Case?
- Settlement Evaluations
- Physician's Consent to Settle the Case
- Reporting of Physician to National Databank
- How Do Insurance Adjusters Settle Cases?
- What is Mediation?
- How Do I Know If I Have a Good Settlement Offer?
- The Trial Of My Case
- How Does The Appeals Process Work?
- Does the Supreme Court Get to Hear My Case?
- Media & Press
- Verdicts and Settlements
How Do I Choose My Lawyer?
Choosing the right medical malpractice lawyer can be one of the most important decisions your family may make. When a friend or loved one is seriously injured, the choice of an attorney could very well mean the difference between recovery or failure. However, a surprising number of Americans do not have the information required for this critical choice.
Many people ask a friend or family member for recommendations when they are seeking an attorney. Although this can be a valuable source to begin the process, it should not be the end of the process. Just because a lawyer is great in one particular field does not mean that he has the required expertise in all areas of the law. If the friend or family member’s experience with that lawyer was not in the same area of the law concerning your case, beware!
Moreover, the law, like medicine, is broken down into many sub-areas or specialties. Even local lawyers do not always know who the top lawyers are in each specialty in the community. If you know an attorney, get him to ask around about lawyers in the particular specialty which you seek.
One of the best ways to objectively determine the legal ability and ethical rating of a lawyer is to review his "Martindale Hubbel" rating. Martindale Hubbel is a world-wide objective legal rating service. Martindale Hubbel determines a lawyer’s legal ability and ethical standards by seeking detailed information from members of the same legal community in which the lawyer practices.
Judges, lawyers and other members of the legal community are sent information on various lawyers in the community. The lawyers who are being rated do not even know that they are being rated or by whom. In fact, there is no set time frame to have a lawyer’s legal rating determined. Thus, a lawyer may not even get a legal rating for a number of years after he begins his practice. Thus, the system cannot be manipulated.
Martindale Hubbel provides three ratings for lawyers, CV, BV and AV. The V part of the rating is the ethical rating and a lawyer will not receive any rating unless he gets a V. The C, B or A rating relates to the lawyer’s legal ability. Thus, a CV means the lawyer is good to high in legal ability, BV means the lawyer is high to very high in legal ability and AV means the lawyer is very high to preeminent. AV is the highest rating a lawyer can achieve.
The Bar Registry is an organization comprised of only AV rated law firms and is divided by specialty. This is a valuable tool to make sure the AV rated lawyer you choose is AV in the particular specialty which you seek.
Another organization that has been recognized by most bar associations is the American Board Of Professional Liability Attorneys.(ABPLA.org). If a lawyer is board-certifed in medical malpractice by this organization, he has been through a rigorous screening process which includes references, review of his prior cases, trials and depositions and a 4 hour written examination to determine his competence to handle these complex cases.
