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No one ever plans to need a personal injury attorney.

Accidents happen to all of us, every day, and for some of us, the consequences last for months, years or an entire lifetime. When an accident happens through no fault of your own, sometimes you must seek out legal assistance.

We here at Ritchie Reiersen Law have had the pleasure of assisting hundreds of people as part of our practice. Our success is something we’re proud of and it’s something you should expect of your own attorney, even if it isn’t us.

There are over 3000+ personal injury attorneys here in Washington State listed just on Avvo.com. Unfortunately, not all of them have experience with personal injury cases and/or strive for the quality that personal injury cases require and deserve.

To that end, if you are ever in the market for a personal injury attorney, or any attorney for that matter, here are a couple of suggestions to narrow down your list. Take these tips to heart.

1. Check their Winning Record: With the number of personal injury attorneys in Washington, it makes no sense going with someone who doesn’t have a track record of successful personal injury cases. Don’t be afraid to ask the attorney about past cases.

Although past successful verdicts don’t guarantee a successful outcome on your case, they certainly do provide you a complete picture of the overall competency and experience of the firm or attorney with which you are considering.

1. Check their Resources: The average personal injury case can cost thousands of dollars to research, litigate and win.Very few lawyers and firms have the resources necessary to fight AND win complicated personal injury cases. Why is this important? If you choose a lawyer with limited resources they may feel pressed to settle a case too early and that costs YOU money!
2. Check their Size: Most personal injury cases are multi-attorney affairs. It’s not uncommon here at Ritchie Reiersen Law to have multiple lawyers, paralegals and many of our support staff working on just one case. And that makes a difference with regard to bottom line results.
3. Check their Reputation: The best law firms and attorneys have accolades to spare. View their testimonials. Do they present detailed videos, Facebook reviews, and on-site testimonials from current and past clients who have been pleased with how the attorney/firm handled their cases? If not, why not?
4. Check their Fee Policy: The BEST personal injury attorneys and firms offer a “No Fee Unless They Win” guarantee as well as a Free Initial Consultation. This is also called a “contingency” arrangement and is common in the personal injury niche. Simply stated, this policy says: if the firm doesn’t win your case or force a settlement, they don’t get paid.

This isn’t a complete list, but this should give you a more general idea of what questions you should be asking of ANY potential personal injury attorney.

Suffering an injury, a disability or even losing a loved one to the negligence of another is a horrible experience we wish didn’t happen in today’s society, but if it does happen to you, educate yourself on what to look for in a personal injury attorney with the above tips.