Top Rated Legal Malpractice Attorney in St. Johns For 2024

Get Legal Solutions for Your Legal Malpractice Needs in St. Johns.
Call 602-989-1759 Today!

Duties of a Legal Malpractice Attorney:

Legal Malpractice Attorney in St. Johns for 2024

Has a loved one or you become injured in an accident or by way of the negligence of others? Sometimes things can be solved through personal insurance or through a small claims court. Every once in a while it’s best to forget about it and move on because it may cause you more headache than it is worth fighting for.

But sometimes you need someone to get your back. Someone who will fight for you. Someone who can really fight on your side. Then you really should have a St. Johns personal injury attorney that will fight for your rights, both financial and individually, so you can get back as close as possible to your life prior to when the incident occurred.

Being hurt in a crime, accident, or willful negligence is not ever enjoyable. It’s an emotional roller coaster, and seeing things objectively is difficult. But keeping cool and logical can be the difference between getting the appropriate compensation that you deserve or quitting the case with no money.

A St. Johns personal injury lawyer can act as an advocate between you and the difficult situation, making it much easier to work with the ins and outs of the legal system. If you are like most people, you may not even realize the implications of the situation until speaking with a professional. A lawyer can help you see all of this objectively, determine if a claim exists and whether they can help with your case, and help you move ahead with any potential case.

Ask Us Anything About Your Legal Malpractice Legal Needs:

What is a St. Johns Legal Malpractice Attorney?

You’ve seen them on television, on highway billboards, YouTube, in newspapers, and on social media. Personal injury lawyers appear to be all over the place. But what do they do?

To begin with, personal injury lawyers (PILs) fall into the larger arena of civil lawyers. Civil lawyers are generally hired to recover money or other assets from a person or legal entity for another person or legal entity.

This means that when a person brings a civil action suit against someone else, a civil attorney is usually hired to bring the lawsuit and a different civil lawyer is hired by the person or entity being accused to defend it. In the case of bodily injury, the injured person may retain a personal injury attorney when said claim involves reimbursement or payment of expenses caused by any injury such as health expenses, mental health problems caused by the injury, and more.

After the personal injury lawyer has been hired, they will gather everything from the case that they are legally able to get. They will talk with all witnesses that can be contacted, gather any and all documents in relation to the claim, and use all potential resources to verify all of their is accurate.

Then he or she may first try to negotiate a settlement in the case. If negotiation falls through, the lawyer may consider filing a lawsuit in response, depending on the potential for a win. But what kinds of cases could a personal injury attorney accept?

The PIL generally tackles a wide number of cases that can be divided into two main categories. The first field includes negligence and accident cases such as medical malpractice, legal malpractice, vehicle accidents, child negligence, and wrongful death cases. In most of these cases, someone is injured (or worse) due to the negligence or incompetence of someone.

The other main field of a PIL is the intentional wrongful case. An intentional tort occurs when someone intentionally injures another person. This type of act occurs in a violent crime, assault and battery cases, slander, theft, and other such situations. Really the possible causes for a personal injury case is basically endless.

In addition, and completely different from nearly all other areas of the legal universe, personal injury lawyers usually work on a contingency fee basis. What this means is that they are not paid unless the person or entity that they are representing has overcome the case. It means that there is no upfront payment, for consultation or otherwise. Their fee is based only upon a percentage of the financial compensation received by their client.

What Are the Implications in a Personal Injury Case?

As mentioned, the possible result of a case like this will be a settlement or trial, unless the plaintiff quits the claim for some reason. However the majority of personal injury cases wind up in settlement. What this means is that either the accused party sends an offer to the injured party, and the proposed settlement is either deemed acceptable by the injured party and their lawyer or it is not accepted and additional negotiation is successful, or the plaintiff makes the demand for compensation and the defending party accepts terms that satisfy the accusing party.

Of course, sometimes even the last steps of the process aren’t so simple. The injured party can send back a counteroffer if they feel they are not receiving in their eyes a fair compensation. It is when these offers wind up floating back and forth in limbo or an offer is totally unacceptable that a case can end up going to trial.

But it is rare for a personal injury case to get to the trial phase. And this is for several reasons:

First, a settlement lends itself to a situation where the defendant can control risks and avoid unneeded legal costs. If the liable party is 100% aware that they are at fault for the incident that led to the claim, they would not want the case to get in front of a sympathetic jury that could lend much larger damages.

Secondly, a settlement can help keep the case low profile. This is especially important for publicly known people. A big trial brings big publicity. And even a small trial can bring unwanted attention. A settlement is conducive to letting all parties involved to negotiate terms, including those terms regarding confidentiality.

Thirdly, a settlement can speed things up. Lengthy court cases can take an eternity, lasting for many months or longer. In addition, if the other party appeals, the outcome can remain up in the air for even longer. The plaintiff probably wants financial payment sooner rather than later. Or they may simply not want to finish the never-ending process of putting on a case, presenting evidence, and doing whatever it takes to beat the claim.

And finally, settlement allows the plaintiff a guaranteed win. A trial is more of a ‘the higher the risk the more the reward’ type of situation, which is not always the best situation for either. The plaintiff would rather settle for less in a guaranteed win. This, versus demanding the highest dollar amount but also risking either losing the claim completely or having a judge or jury give a much lesser amount due to unknown circumstances pretrial.

What are the PIL Duties?

The commitments of a personal injury professional are comprehensive, but at their core are relatively simple to understand. You probably have a lot of thoughts regarding your case because you may be unfamiliar with the law and legal proceedings. Your legal professional helps you navigate the processes of your case.

First they will take care of finding evidence and finding the responsible party, whether it be an insurance company, individual, or other legal entity.

Once the legal professional has formed a case, they draft and send an official letter of demand to the defendant. This letter includes a breakdown of what happened, of injuries incurred, and the amount of financial compensation demanded.

Next, the lawyer may try to negotiate the settlement, and depending on whether both sides reach an agreement, decides if they will bring the claim to trial. This is determined by how much the defendant agrees to the terms of the settlement put forth by the plaintiff. If the other party agrees completely to all terms, then there would be absolutely no reason to file a case with the court. If the other party agrees to some terms but not others or only partially agrees, it will be up to the plaintiff to decide if they will push for further negotiations, agree to the new terms, or go to court.

Choose the Successful Legal Malpractice Attorney in St. Johns

Deciding on a St. Johns Legal Malpractice Attorney can be a frightening chore. There are many options on the table and attorneys that can help, and it can be difficult to tell who will do the best by you when the market is so saturated in competition. And St. Johns is no different. You want an attorney that is experienced in your field of law and has been successful with many of their cases. No attorney in the world can win all cases and there are no guarantees of winning any case, but you definitely want one that only takes cases they feel have a great chance of winning. Otherwise it is a waste of time and resources for all involved.

Here at DeLozier Law, we have many decades of experience in successful personal injury law. We have won many cases for our clients and helped them get the settlement they needed and deserved. We offer a free consultation so you can see if we can help you with your claim, too. Give us a call today at 602-989-1759!