How To Find The Best Cerebral Palsy Lawyer
Finding a cerebral palsy lawyer who’s willing to take on your case can be intimidating, and the process of finding a good lawyer is sometimes difficult.
Many people are worried about the cost of a lawyer. With some types of cases, you’re required to provide cash up front in the form of a “retainer.” Luckily, cerebral palsy birth injury cases are not handled this way. Instead, they’re taken on a contingency fee basis.
Essentially, this means that you can hire a lawyer with your signature and never have to pay a singe cent unless you actually recover compensation. Contingency-fee agreements align your goals with the goals of your attorney (a substantial yet quick recovery). You don’t have to wonder if your lawyer is over-billing you or putting your case on the back burner because they do not get paid by the hour; they get paid a percentage of the total recovery.
Cerebral palsy lawsuits fall under the umbrella of medical malpractice, and it’s extremely important to choose a lawyer who has experience in this category. Not only should your attorney have experience with medical malpractice cases, but also birth injury and cerebral palsy claims, specifically.
Its important to speak with a few different attorneys before making such an important hiring decision. Ask about their experience. Ask about their previous case history. Have they tried a cerebral palsy birth injury case in court? Have they successfully negotiated large settlements in these type of cases before? You need to be very confident in your attorney’s abilities as the outcome of this legal action may have a very significant impact on your child’s future finances.
Qualifications to Seek
In addition to the questions mentioned above, some of the things a person should consider before choosing a lawyer to handle a birth injury claim include the following:
- How long the firm has been in business.
- How long the lawyers remain with the firm.
- What services the firm provides.
- Reputation of the firm with not just the community but also the legal industry and malpractice fields.
- Rate of success litigating birth injury cases.
- The firm’s success rate in the settlement of legal issues.
- Turnaround time for litigation in cases involving medical malpractice.
How a Lawyer Can Help
The right birth injury lawyer can actually help you obtain a much higher award in a medical malpractice case. Consider this: your child suffers from cerebral palsy because of a mistake the doctor and/or hospital staff made during your pregnancy, during delivery, or after the delivery. As a result, you have a child with cerebral palsy who requires a great deal of care at an enormous expense. Perhaps you had to give up your job in order to take care of your child’s needs which has placed a major financial hardship on your family. The right cerebral palsy lawyer can help you obtain sufficient compensation that can include payments for the following:
- Direct medical expenses for the child’s care.
- Essential equipment the child might need in order to improve his quality of life (wheelchair, braces, physical therapy, necessary modifications to the patient’s home, etc.).
- Future ongoing needs of the individual.
- Any number of other types of expenses or losses that may have resulted (or continue to occur) because of the birth injury.