If you have
sustained a whiplash injury following a road traffic accident it is
likely that you are feeling very anxious about the injuries you have
sustained as well as being anxious and confused about how to go about
obtaining compensation for your injuries. When you have dealt with your
immediate need for treatment, your thoughts may turn to making a claim
for compensation for your whiplash injury and contacting a solicitor to
help you do this. With such a vast amount of law firms and claims
companies advertising on television and on the internet, how to you even
begin to go about choosing a solicitor that will pursue your claim for
you? Does it matter which solicitor you choose and will your choice
affect the outcome of your claim?
In the past -
before the days of the internet, mobile phones, text and emails -it was
common practice to instruct a solicitor in your local town or village to
conduct any legal work on your behalf. Often, this would be 'your'
solicitor who perhaps had dealt with other legal matters for you in the
past, such a house move or writing a will. Some years ago, as discussed
below, it was more common for solicitors to practice a wide range of law
rather than specialising in one particular area. So is it still
necessary to instruct a solicitor that is based in your local town or
village and will this ensure a better service for you? This is down to
your personal choice. It may be that you would prefer to instruct a
solicitor whose office is just a short journey from your home, where the
area is familiar to you and where you feel you would be able to visit
the office in your lunch break. In reality, however, the locality of
your solicitor's office is not of great importance as far as pursuing
your claim is concerned. The majority of work will be carried out over
the telephone, by email and by post and it may not be necessary for you
to visit your solicitors office often - or, more likely - at all. In
addition, most solicitors will be willing to come and visit you in your
home for an initial meeting, if necessary.
Again, it is
less common these days for solicitors to offer a 'general' legal service
- i.e. where one particular solicitor offers a range of services from
will writing to family matters to personal injury claims.
However, this can still happen in some smaller high street firms. The
more likely scenario, however, is that a solicitor will specialise in
one particular area of law - such as whiplash claims. The advantages of
this are that they are likely to have a greater knowledge of this area
of law than a solicitor who practises 'generally', they will have
experienced a much wider range of issues concerning whiplash injury claims,
they will be completely up to date with recent cases involving whiplash
injuries, they will have built up relationships with medical
professionals and they will be less likely to let any smaller parts of
your claim go unnoticed. It may be that you choose to instruct a
solicitor in your local town because you like the idea of them being
close by geographically, or you may choose a specialist solicitor who is
located further afield - again, this is down to personal choice.
Another
important factor when choosing a solicitor for your whiplash claim is to
ensure that you feel at ease with them and are able to ask for
clarification on any points that you feel unsure about. A solicitor
should carefully explain fees to you. Most solicitors will offer a 'no win no fee agreement' for whiplash injury claims,
but where this is not the case, they should give you a carefully set
out quote of how much the work is likely to cost. You are likely to be
spending a lot time communicating with your solicitor - whether over the
telephone or by email and post - and it is important that you are able
to work with them and build up a good relationship.
Credits: Robert Gray
