Go Local

We hear this all the time related to eating, shopping, and as it relates to our carbon footprint.

What does “going local” have to do with personal injury or workers’ compensation lawyers? Glad you asked. I’ll try to answer that below.

As Seen on Television, Billboards, and Your Smart Phone

Unless you’ve been in a Rip Van Winkle coma for the past decade or so, you probably have noticed the explosion of personal injury, toxic tort (what the heck is mesothelioma anyway?), and other kinds of injury lawyers advertising.

Advertising A LOT. As in, since the pandemic, the world of injury lawyers has shifted seismically.

Way back, when I started a solo law practice the first time in 1996, a Yellow Pages ad got me clients. Then, when I went solo the second time, a website named Avvo did the trick. Now, we are going through another reshaping of how injury lawyers get clients.

Instead of focusing on results, quality, or sophistication, these nationwide law firms seem to be into saturating the market with their loud ads. Many of the lawyers you see advertising in your area are not even licensed to practice law in your state, and may not even live there!

They get around this by employing local lawyers to work for their firms as local counsel, but if you do even rudimentary research, you’ll find most of these folks who are advertising have zero real connection to your state, city, or county.

What Can You Do to Determine Who’s Who and Why Does It Matter?

First of all, why does it matter? A whole host of reasons.

I’m local. I also answer my own phone, texts, and emails. If you’re my client, you talk to ME. About your case, about the Bears if you wish, about the snow. I’m here for you during a very stressful time.

Don’t bigger firms have people do that? Nope. In fact, you likely will never talk to your lawyer at all. You might just talk to paralegals, if they bother to call you back or answer your emails.

And because they don’t know the lay of the local land, they can’t really give you much information about how your case will work out, because they aren’t from here.

To make matters worse, most of these advertising lawyers are simply what we call “mills” in the business. They take in your case, then refer it out to another lawyer to handle. So you sign up with the Morgan firm, and Morgan hires Joe Smith, whom you have never met, never talked to, and have no idea whether you want working on your case.

A stranger. That’s what you get.

How Can You Figure Out Who is Local?

First, use the magic search engine to look up the Morgan, or Postman or whichever firm is advertising on television. I’ll bet you will find some firm with offices in a whole bunch of places that are NOT in your area.

Check out the website and see what their biographies say, what their experience is, and what results they’ve had recently. Pay attention to how specific they are about these cases. If you don’t sense these cases have any connection to your state or city, you may want to look elsewhere. Do you really want a lawyer from Oklahoma suing the CTA for your fall on the bus?

Second, check the lawyer’s name on the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary site.

Use the “lawyer search” bar and plug in the name and it will tell you if this person is licensed in Illinois, where their office is, and whether they’ve had any disciplinary history. It also advises you whether they have malpractice insurance.

I recommend doing this for anyone you might want to hire, but especially for these out of state lawyers yelling at you on tv. Check them out.

Now, before someone tells me I’m being unfair, let me just say I know there are some folks who advertise heavily who are decent lawyers. And some of them actually treat clients with respect. But it’s a small subset from all my experiences, the experiences I’ve gleaned from clients, and the word on the street shared with many lawyers.

In short, I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to hire a lawyer who is an actual local lawyer, preferably someone who picks up the phone, responds to emails, and keeps you informed. And if they tell you only what a great case you have while pushing you to “sign up now,” it’s probably a giant red flag.

Takeaways

Contact Chicago Personal Injury Lawyer Stephen Hoffman

If you have been injured, whether by an auto accident, bike or pedestrian crash, dog bite, work accident, or medical malpractice, seek medical attention immediately. Report accidents to the police and your own insurance company, or to your employer if you were injured at work. Then contact a lawyer with experience in your type of injury matter.

If you have been in an accident and have questions, contact Chicago personal injury attorney Stephen L. Hoffman for a free consultation at (773) 944-9737. Stephen has over 35 years of legal experience and gets results; he has collected millions of dollars for his satisfied clients. He is listed as a SuperLawyer, has a 10.0 rating on Avvo, and is BBB A+ accredited. Stephen is also an Executive Level Member of the Lincoln Square Ravenswood Chamber of Commerce.

Stephen handles injury cases on a contingency fee basis, which means you pay nothing up front, and Stephen only gets paid if you do. You have only a limited time to file a claim, so don’t wait another day; contact Stephen now to get started putting your life back together.