How to Select a California Car Accident Lawyer | Maison Law

The 2024 American Bar Association National Lawyer Population Survey puts the number of California attorneys at 175,883. This translates to 4.5 lawyers for every 1,000 residents in California. The Golden State trails only New York (187,656) in the number of lawyers. The survey does not report the number of personal injury lawyers practicing in California.

Nevertheless, you can expect to find numerous lawyers in California practicing in this field. Consider that, in 2023, California courts statewide saw 40,102 motor vehicle wreck lawsuits seeking over $35,000 in damages. Other personal injury filings (seeking more than $35,000 in damages) numbered 39,071 in 2023.

These figures suggest that personal injury law represents an active field of practice in California and many choices for victims who need lawyers. Personal injury practitioners saturate television, billboards, online and digital platforms, and other media with advertisements. By one report, nearly 2.3 million advertisements for personal injury lawyers and law firms appeared in California in 2023. These advertisers spent nearly $239 million in 2023.

Below, we offer some insights on how personal injury victims or you might choose an attorney, focusing on some criteria and sources to use in the search.

The Factors in Choosing a Personal Injury Lawyer

Experience and Areas of Practice

Personal injury lawyers often tout their experience in personal injury cases. With the experience comes knowledge and skill in:

• Evaluating the extent and value of personal injuries
• Negotiating with insurance company adjusters and lawyers
• Litigation
• Jury trials

You might wish to judge a personal injury lawyer by the skill and experience with your type of case. Often, we associate personal injury lawyers with those who handle car crashes. These seem to be the focus of many lawyer advertisements. Generally, around or slightly more than half of personal injury suits involve motor vehicle accidents.

However, personal injury involves more than collisions between cars and trucks. Depending on the type of incident or event that caused your injury, you might search for:

• Truck accident lawyers
• Premises liability lawyers
• Medical malpractice lawyers
• Defective pharmaceutical lawyers
• Product liability lawyers
• Dog bite lawyers

Some types of personal injury cases present specialized or unique issues that may call for lawyers well-versed in unique terminology and legal principles. For example, truck accidents present potential violations of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Act and associated regulations, such as improper loading, use of cellphones by drivers while behind the wheel, and exceeding time limits on driving and being on duty.

In medical malpractice cases, you or your lawyer must notify the healthcare provider of your intent to sue no later than 90 days before the lawsuit and explain the reasons for the suit, your injuries, and your losses. The lawyer must show how the physician or other medical provider violated specific standards of medical practice, which requires expert testimony from a physician or medical professional. Medical malpractice lawyers should have skills in reading and understanding medical records, patient histories, symptoms, conditions, diagnoses, treatments, and medical terms.

The Lawyer’s (Geographic) Practice Area

Personal injury claimants tend to seek lawyers in their hometown or county. Doing so reduces the travel distance and time for victims to visit their lawyers. Those in wrecks may lose their sole or primary form of transportation, while serious injuries from a crash, wreck, fall, or other incident limit mobility and ability to travel.

California’s venue laws allow personal injury victims to sue in their home county and find a lawyer who practices or has offices in the courts of that county. Under California law, the venue of a lawsuit is situated either where the defendant lives or conducts business or where the wreck occurred.

Most victims suffer injury in their home county or not far from home. According to a 2005 to 2010 study of 3,280 victims reported by the National Institutes of Health, nearly 88 percent received injuries within ten miles of their homes. Over 93 percent of fall injuries occurred within 10 miles of the victims’ residences, with almost 98 percent of victims falling within 30 miles of home. For wrecks, the rate stood at 92.1 percent.

Often, slips and falls occur in retail establishments such as department stores and grocery stores. Injuries occur when shoppers fall due to conditions such as spilled cleaner, melted ice, dropped food, or floors recently mopped and not marked as slippery or wet. To give you some perspective, the National Safety Council reports a finding from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration that slippery and slick floors account for or contribute to 85 percent of workers’ compensation claims.

Fee Arrangements

Personal injury lawyers charge “contingency fees,” representing a percentage of the amount recovered in a settlement, arbitration, or jury trial. Typically, these fees range from 33 percent to 40 percent. In a medical malpractice case, lawyers may charge no more than 25 percent if the case is settled before a lawsuit or demand for arbitration is filed. After the start of a lawsuit or arbitration in a medical malpractice case, the fee may not exceed 33 1/3 percent of the recovery.

Places to Search for and Learn About Personal Injury Lawyers

Studies and surveys tell us that clients quickly seek lawyers when the need arises. According to a study reported by FindLaw, nearly 56 percent of responding clients contacted or otherwise sought a lawyer within a week after the need arose through an event such as a criminal charge, traffic ticket, crash, or other accident. Roughly one in every seven started the search on the day of the incident.

Online Databases and Reviews

According to FindLaw, 82 percent of clients consulted online reviews posted by prior clients. Nearly four out of every ten used the reviews as the primary factor in deciding upon a lawyer. In these reviews, clients may mention factors such as responsiveness to phone calls, communication, performance in negotiations and trials, empathy, and results.

You may find client reviews on directories and legal matching services such as:

• Avvo
• LegalMatch
• Martindale-Hubbel
• FindLaw
• Lawyers.com
• Nolo
• Justia

Generally, personal injury lawyers will list their, along with addresses and phone numbers, information such as:

• Years of experience or in practice
• Types of personal injury cases
• Reviews from clients or potential clients
• Whether the lawyer or firm offers free or video initial consultations
• Attorney ratings
• Links to websites

On many of these directories, you can describe your situation. The service will refer you to any attorneys who may be able to assist or potentially represent you.

The California State Bar certifies these and other lawyer referral services. You can go to the California State Bar to find a list of certified lawyer referral services in your county.

Lawyer or Law Firm Websites

Whether you use a link from a directory or find it through a search engine, a firm’s website can offer valuable information about the lawyer’s experience and services. Look for indicators of past performance on the site, such as:

• Verdicts obtained in court cases
• Reported California Court of Appeals or California Supreme Court opinions involving the law firm and personal injury cases
• Types of cases, such as truck accidents, medical malpractice, mass torts, product liability, automobile accidents, or premises liability
• Reported years in practice

You may verify the attorney’s involvement in appellate cases by pulling the opinions from the California appellate courts’ site. To get or review records of any verdicts, you can contact the Superior Court in the county where the case was filed and tried.

Specialization

An attorney can earn designation as a certified legal specialist in 11 areas through the California State Bar or an organization approved by the California State Bar. These “specialists” take continuing legal education in a particular area and pass an examination. Certification carries with it a heightened level of competence and skill in an area of practice.

Presently, there exists no certification specifically for “personal injury.” However, you may find certified specialists in “civil trial advocacy” and “medical malpractice.”