8 Things to Look For When Choosing a Birth Injury Lawyer

When a birth injury happens, it’s possible that it’ll be one of the most difficult and devastating time for your family. After all, you might be completely uncertain about your newborn’s future and you might not know how you’ll pay for the medical bills. Although the period will be completely overwhelming, you must ensure that you choose and hire the right birth injury attorney.

However, if you never had to hire such a legal representative before, you might be wondering – what factors do I need to consider before hiring someone from this field? Luckily, this is exactly what we’ll discuss in this article today. But, before we take a look at the list of things you should consider, let’s first look at why you should hire such a lawyer:

Why Do I Need a Birth Injury Lawyer?

Naturally, you might not be thinking about filing a lawsuit during this difficult time. However, it can help you quite a lot, especially when it comes to the financial side of things. If your newborn suffers from cerebral palsy or a different injury sustained during birth, it’s likely that the medical experts are to blame, which means that you must hire a birth injury attorney.

If you choose to do so, your attorney will help you learn what your legal rights are, they’ll know what evidence you’ll need to collect, and more importantly, they’ll understand how they need to build your case, one that will allow you to hold the doctors accountable and ask for compensation that will cover all your medical expenses and needs.

What Factors Should I Consider Before Hiring Someone?

If you type in “birth injury lawyer near me”, it’s possible that you’ll get thousands of search results and from there, it’ll probably be impossible for you to choose the person that’ll represent you at court. This can be extremely complex and daunting, which is why you must consider the following factors:

They Need to Be Specialized in The Field

Birth injury cases fall under the category of personal injury law, however, these claims are more unique and different than anything else. This is why you must ensure that you hire someone that is specialized in the field you need, instead of hiring a general practice lawyer. By ensuring that you hire an individual that only deals with such cases frequently, you’ll also be ensuring that they know how to manage your claim properly.

Know Their Experience With Specific Birth Injury Claims

In the most perfect situation, you’ll want to hire someone who is experienced in dealing with claims similar to yours. If your baby suffers from HIE or cerebral palsy, it’s best if you hire someone who has experience with dealing with the same injuries. So, when you’re browsing through all of your options, ensure that you ask the potential lawyer about their experience with specific injuries and situations.

Their Previous Results Are Important

No matter if the law firm has 10 or 100 people working for them, the most important thing you must check is their previous results. Hence, ask them about their experience and the success of the previous cases. Keep in mind, you might not need to directly inquire about this situation, instead, when searching for a birth injury lawyer, read more information on their website, especially since the info you’re looking for might already be displayed there, meaning that you won’t need to lose time talking with them.

Look at The Qualifications

Similar to the aforementioned point, you can check the information about an attorney’s educational background online. At times, you’ll be able to find that info on their official website, other times you’ll be able to find it by simply googling their name. This means that you should look for certificates, memberships to expert organizations, accomplishments in this specific field, and so on. The more you know about the attorney-at-law, the more you’ll feel certain about your choice.

Inquire About The Fees And Payments

As you already know, legal representation can often cost a lot of money. There are different fees for submitting claims, talking to professionals, gathering the medical evidence, and depositing witnesses, which is why you must ensure that you know all about their payment schedules before you hire someone. Keep in mind, most of the people working in this particular field, work on contingency, meaning that you won’t have to pay them upfront until you win your case.

Look at The Reviews From Previous Clients

If you want to ensure that other people had a good experience with a specific attorney, one of the most important things that you could do is to read all the reviews posted by previous clients. Now, you can do so by reading the testimonials on their official websites, but if you want to ensure that the reviews are honest, it might be best to read them on independent websites or platforms. There are various online legal communities as well, so, ensure that you look at them as well.

They Should Have Connections to Medical Workers

The most important thing for your case? Proving that the healthcare experts were negligent. To do this, you’ll have to hire an expert witness who will appear at court and testify on your behalf. Depending on your case, you might need a gynecologist, neonatal expert, or an obstetrician. An attorney that has handled a lot of similar cases will already know whom they’ll need to talk to and work with in order to prove the negligence of the doctors during birth.

Communication is The Key

Last on our list, but not least important is the fact that you’ll have to have good communication with the person you hire. Hence, when you narrow down your list of potential candidates, ensure that you schedule a free consultation in order to see whether or not you can openly and freely communicate with the lawyer. If you cannot, it might be best to move on to the next option, mostly because communication between the two of you is the key to winning your case.

Conclusion

Hiring a birth injury attorney might be the most daunting thing you’ll do, especially since you’ll be going through a difficult period, worrying about your child’s future. However, if you want someone to be held accountable and if you want to get compensated for your troubles, you must ensure that you hire the right legal representative.

So, now that you’re aware of all the factors you’ll need to consider, you really shouldn’t lose any more of your time. Instead, keep all of the aforementioned tips in mind, and then start browsing for an attorney that will help you build your case, but more importantly, that will suit all of your and your child’s needs.