Questions to ask a catastrophic injury lawyer

01 Why this conversation is different

If you have not yet worked out what the case itself involves, our guide to vetting a catastrophic injury attorney covers the background research to do before you ever sit down with anyone.

The money is different. The experts a serious case needs are costly enough that who funds them, and for how long, becomes a question about the firm rather than about you.

The timescale is different. You will be working with these people for longer than most jobs last.

The stakes do not reset. An ordinary claim settled badly is a disappointment. A lifetime care claim settled badly is a shortfall you live inside.

02 What the fee agreement must already tell you

Knowing this changes the tone of the conversation. You are not asking a firm to be generous. You are asking it to hand over what the rule says should already be written down.

03 Should you interview more than one firm?

There is one real constraint. Evidence perishes and filing deadlines run, so this is not a reason to spend a month deciding. A week of comparison is usually affordable; a season is not.

04 Questions about money

None of these is an awkward question. A firm that finds them awkward has told you something.

• What is the percentage, and does it change? The rule contemplates different rates for settlement, trial and appeal. Find out what triggers a rise and at what moment.
• Before or after? Whether expenses are deducted from the recovery before or after the fee is calculated. Ask them to show you both on a realistic number.
• What counts as a case cost? Experts and filing fees obviously. Ask specifically about in-house charges such as copying, postage, staff time and interest on advanced funds.
• What do I owe if we lose? The rule requires the agreement to notify you of expenses you are liable for whether or not you prevail. Get the answer in plain words.
• Who is paid before I am? Health insurers, Medicare or Medicaid, and medical providers may all have claims on the recovery ahead of you.

05 Questions about capacity

You are allowed to ask about this directly, and a serious firm will not be offended.

• How do you fund case costs? From firm capital, a line of credit, or third party litigation funding. Each has different consequences for how long they can hold out.
• What is the largest case cost you have carried? A concrete answer tells you more than a general assurance.
• How many cases like mine are open right now? Not how many they have ever handled. What is on the desk this month.
• How many have you taken to verdict? Insurers know which firms try cases. A firm that never tries one negotiates from a weaker position and everyone in the room knows it.
• What happens if this needs an appeal? Appeals take years more and cost more. Find out now whether they do that work or hand it on.

06 Questions about who does the work

The referral question has its own rule attached, and it is worth knowing that the arrangement requires your agreement.

• Will you be the lawyer on my case? Ask for the name of the person who will actually run it, and ask to meet them before signing.
• Do you intend to refer this out? If so, to whom, on what split, and when will you be asked to confirm it in writing.
• Who will I actually speak to? Day to day contact is often a paralegal or case manager. That is normal. Knowing it in advance prevents a year of frustration.
• How quickly do you return calls? Ask for the firm's own standard, then ask what happens when they miss it.

07 Questions about the plan

A firm with a plan will answer these quickly because they have done it before. A firm without one will speak in generalities about fighting hard.

• What happens in the first ninety days? Preservation letters, investigation, medical records, experts instructed. Ask for the sequence and the dates.
• Who costs out a lifetime of care? Serious cases usually need a life care planner and an economist. Ask who they use and when those people get instructed.
• What cover have you already found? And what else will they look for beyond the obvious policy.
• How will you handle claims against the recovery? Health plans and public programs frequently want repaying. Handled late, this reduces what reaches you.
• What could go wrong with this case? The most useful question on the page, and the one that separates candour from salesmanship.

08 How to run the meeting

If you are recovering from a serious injury, the practical steps below matter as much as the questions themselves.

09 Reading the answers you get

Most guides list the questions to ask an injury attorney and stop there. The harder skill is knowing what the answers are worth.

Swipe the table sideways to see every column.

One more test. Ask a question you already know the answer to from this page, such as whether costs come off before or after the fee. You are not trying to catch anyone out. You are finding out whether this firm explains things clearly to someone who is not a lawyer, which is what you will need from them for the next several years.

10 How state rules change this

This matters because the specific protections described in section 02 may be stronger, weaker or differently worded where you live.

• Additional disclosure requirements. Some states require the lawyer to give you a copy of the signed agreement at the moment of signing, which the model rule does not say in those terms.
• Caps and schedules. A number of states limit contingency percentages in certain kinds of case, sometimes on a sliding scale.
• Fee division rules. States differ on what a referring lawyer may take and what they must do to earn it.
• Where to check. Your state bar publishes its own rules of professional conduct, usually free and searchable. That is the version that governs your agreement, not the model.

11 The full list in one place

This is a longer set of questions to ask a personal injury lawyer than most lists give you, because a permanent injury case has more moving parts than most claims. If you want the same ground organized as a scoring exercise rather than a conversation, our attorney vetting checklist covers it in a form you can tick off.

1. What is your contingency percentage, and does it change at trial or on appeal?
2. Are case costs deducted before or after the fee is calculated?
3. Will you show me that arithmetic on a realistic recovery figure?
4. What exactly counts as a case cost, including anything charged in-house?
5. What do I owe if we lose?
6. Who gets paid out of the recovery before I do?
7. How do you fund case costs over several years?
8. What is the largest case cost your firm has carried?
9. How many cases like mine are open in your office right now?
10. How many have you taken to verdict, and when was the last one?
11. Who will actually be the lawyer on my case, and can I meet them?
12. Do you intend to refer this case to another firm?
13. If so, who, on what split, and when do I confirm that in writing?
14. Who will I speak to day to day?
15. What is your standard for returning calls?
16. What will you do in the first ninety days?
17. Who will cost out a lifetime of care, and when are they instructed?
18. What insurance have you already identified, and what else will you look for?
19. How will you deal with health plan and public program claims on the recovery?
20. What are the genuine weaknesses in this case?

12 Red flags

None of these proves misconduct. All of them are reasons to see somebody else before deciding.

One last thing worth saying plainly. Feeling rushed, patronised or unheard in the first meeting is itself information. You are choosing somebody to work with through the hardest years of your life, and a firm that cannot make an hour feel respectful is unlikely to improve once the paperwork is signed.

Sources and authorities

This page rests on one primary source, quoted directly and linked, plus its official commentary.

The most important caveat on this page. The Model Rules are a template published by a professional association. They are not law. They govern nobody until a state's highest court adopts them, and states adopt them with amendments. Section 10 says this and section 02 flags it, but it bears repeating here because the rest of the page would be misleading without it. The version that governs your fee agreement is your own state's rule, published by your state bar.

On the cost of running a case. This page says repeatedly that expert costs are large and take years to recover, and that a firm's ability to carry them matters. It deliberately puts no figure on it. We looked for a defensible published number for what catastrophic injury litigation costs to run and found none we would stand behind. If a firm gives you a range, that is useful information about that firm, but treat it as their estimate rather than an industry figure.

Why we name no states. Contingency caps, extra disclosure duties and fee division rules differ meaningfully between states, and a table getting one of them wrong would be worse than no table. We looked for authority we were willing to cite state by state and did not find it. Section 10 points you at the source that is authoritative for you instead.

On our own position. We are a referral service. Section 06 explains that referral arrangements require your agreement in writing, and that rule applies to arrangements involving us as much as to anything else. We think you should ask us the same questions this page tells you to ask a law firm.

Common questions, answered

General information, not legal advice. Professional conduct rules are adopted state by state, so check your own state bar's version before relying on anything here.