Can I change personal injury attorneys if I am not happy with the one I have?

Yes. You can always change personal injury attorneys, for any reason. There are two possible stages to your personal injury case, pre-litigation and litigation. Litigation means your personal injury attorney has filed a lawsuit. If this is the case, then there is some formality to dismissing your personal injury attorney. Pre-litigation you have the ability to essentially dismiss your personal injury attorney at any time via phone call, letter or email.

Frustrations With Status of the Case and Poor Communication

Oftentimes a client feels the need to fire their personal injury attorney due to frustration regarding the status of their case. This frustration can arise simply from a lack of understanding of the process and this lack of understanding can result from poor communication with the current personal injury attorney. I always suggest to the disgruntled person that they pick up the phone and have a conversation with their current attorney, or to set an appointment to go in and talk in person about what exactly is happening with their personal injury case. If the attorney won’t take the call, return the call, or take the time to sit down and explain the process, then it is time to get a new attorney.

Poor Work Product

Reasons in addition to poor communication for getting a new personal injury attorney would be simply poor quality of work from the current attorney. This could result from a lack of understanding regarding this area of law or simply, a lack of effort. Perhaps the attorney simply just isn’t doing what needs to be done to move the matter along. If this is the case, then definitely it is time for a new personal injury attorney.

Client Doesn’t Want to Have to Pay Two Personal Injury Attorneys

A hesitation for someone who should be changing personal injury attorneys is; I don’t want to have to pay two attorneys. You won’t have to. Your personal injury attorney fee provision will not change. The percentage stays the same and becomes an issue between the old and new attorney to discuss. It is not the problem of the client to determine which personal injury attorney gets what. This becomes an issue of who earned what from the final recovery, irrelevant to the client’s recovery. What is relevant is that if the client chooses wisely and gets a new personal injury attorney, then they will have a much less painful experience in obtaining the just result. They should be informed, thus able to make informed decisions, understand that the timeline is dictated by the court’s calendar and that calendar is slow moving, and that everything that can be done is being done. With this peace of mind and understanding the client will then have more patience and proper expectations as to what exactly the status is of their personal injury case.

We here at Sette Law Office accept cases that are currently in progress. We do initially encourage you to attempt communication with your current personal injury attorney. If that has already been attempted with no success, then we are ready, willing, and able to take over and accomplish what needs to be done. We also tactfully deal with prior counsel in making sure all interests are protected as they should be protected.