Can I Change My Attorney While My Car Accident Case Is Pending?
After some research, you finally hire a suitable lawyer to handle your car accident case and represent you in court. However, you may feel unsatisfied with your legal counsel’s performance while handling your case.
You are so unsatisfied with their work that you wonder if you can change attorneys in the middle of the case.
The short answer is you can indeed change your legal counsel before your auto accident case concludes. However, you can only do so before your case reaches court in most cases.
Moreover, you should consider a few vital points presented in this post before dismissing your current legal representative.
Why Change to a New Car Accident Lawyer Before Your Case Concludes
Clients may have acceptable reasons for changing their legal counsel before their case gets resolved, like:
1. Too Many Delays
Car accident cases usually take a long time to conclude, especially if it involves severe injuries.
The legal counsel needs to wait for you to completely recover or reach maximum medical improvement to determine the compensation you deserve. And that can take a few weeks or years, depending on your condition.
The thing is that some attorneys may engage with too many unnecessary delays throughout the case. For example, your legal representative may have poor time management skills.
In that situation, switching to a new lawyer can help speed up your claim process.
2. Communication Problems
Good communication is an essential part of a case to get fruitful results. So, a reliable legal expert maintains efficient communication with their clients.
They provide fresh and quick updates about the case. Moreover, they avoid making their clients wait long hours before responding to calls, text messages, or emails.
You may think of terminating your lawyer if they do not maintain this level of communication with you.
3. Competency Issues
Immediately terminate a legal representative with critical problems handling your case.
For example, you may notice they cannot skillfully negotiate with the insurance adjuster for your settlement.
You may also feel they are unsure about particular procedures because they don’t have enough relevant experiences in similar cases. A good example is when they can’t accurately calculate your injury compensation.
It’s better to avoid incompetent legal experts by hiring a competent Burbank auto accident attorney from the start.
When Can You Change Your Car Accident Lawyer
You can easily change your legal representative anytime before your case reaches court during the pre-trial procedures.
Changing your legal counsel when your case becomes pending in court by submitting a request is also possible. However, the judge will likely deny your request unless it has a significant valid reason.
On a side note, remember that a new legal representative needs enough time to study your case. So, it’s better to avoid changing your legal counsel between hearings and schedules.
Paying Your First Auto Accident Attorney
You still have to pay your first legal counsel after terminating them.
You only need to ask for the bill if they impose hourly rates for your case. However, things may become complicated if you are on a contingency fee arrangement as they receive payments only if you win the case.
In that situation, let your new legal counsel work out the payment with the previous lawyer. The two legal representatives will divide the percentage they will take from your compensation.
Hire a Competent Auto Accident Lawyer in Burbank for Your Case
The points above will help you change your legal representative in the middle of your auto accident case. And when you search for new legal counsel, the best Burbank auto accident attorney will help ensure fruitful case outcomes.