Normally personal injury clients complain about one of several things when talking about firing their personal injury lawyer. The main concern generally is, "I don't know what's going on with my case and my personal injury lawyer won't tell me or I don't know what's going on with my case and my personal injury lawyer will not call me back." As a personal injury lawyer, I would always recommend if you have a problem with your lawyer you should call him and try to talk to him about your complaint. Sometimes, the personal injury lawyer may not know that you have a complaint, not know that you called, or have been trying to call. I recommend if you cannot ever get anybody on the phone that you try to call after hours or that you go down to his office. You could even tell his paralegal that you need an appointment and need to see your personal injury lawyer. At that meeting you should be able to talk about your complaints and issues. Hopefully, your personal injury lawyer will resolve them.
Another complaint personal injury and car accident victims sometimes have is that their personal injury lawyer is recommending settlement on a personal injury case when the client does not feel that they are receiving enough money. The personal injury lawyer should be able to talk to you about the demand, the offer from the insurance company, and the resolution of the case. He will then explain what these means for your medical bills and how much you will receive in the personal injury settlement. Expect your lawyer to discuss whether you should file a lawsuit. If so he will discuss potential problems with your case that could potentially prevent him from recommending settlement or recommending filing a lawsuit in the case. It is important to know that some personal injury lawyers never file lawsuits and might be unlikely to if you need do so. There are many lawyers out there that only settle cases. There are also many personal injury lawyers out there that will file lawsuits against the insurance companies. If you cannot successfully settle or resolve your personal injury case you need to find a lawyer who will file a lawsuit for you. I would recommend if your personal injury lawyer will not file a lawsuit, ask him if he knows anyone who will file a personal injury lawsuit for you. He may have a colleague or friend who does this type of work.
In closing, I always recommend trying to work things out with your personal injury lawyer. You hired this lawyer for a reason at some point and at some point you trusted and believed in his counsel. I would always encourage you to talk to the personal injury lawyer and see if you can resolve the issues you are having with him about your case. However, a client always has a right to fire their lawyer and to seek a second opinion in a personal injury case. If you have questions about this or need to know how to fire a lawyer you must send a letter to your personal injury lawyer instructing him that you no longer wish for him to be your lawyer and that he should send you a copy of your file. You should then keep a copy of the letter and give it to your new lawyer. Always be aware of any statute of limitations or any deadlines in the case. You must also be prepared that your former lawyer might put a lien on the case or ask for something for his time and services on the case. Some lawyers will not take a case where someone has had a previous lawyer. I always encourage you to talk to a lawyer prior to firing your personal injury lawyer. He may tell you that the first lawyer just has poor communication skills, but is doing a good job on your personal injury case. This is a case you should see if your lawyer will work out some better communication method with you.