4 tips for choosing a long-term disability attorney

After suffering an injury, illness, or disability that prevents them from continuing their employment, that person must suffer the additional hardship of obtaining an alternative source of income payments. If you’re lucky enough to enjoy long-term disability insurance coverage, then you’re in luck and should (emphasis should) have access to that alternative source of income.

Unfortunately, a large number of people who enjoy this form of insurance and who must file a claim on their disability policy are denied benefits for which they or their employers may have paid dearly for years.

It is at this point, and upon realizing this, you will seek the advice of an experienced long-term disability attorney. Here are 4 tips for choosing one:

1) Location, location, location

Choose an attorney who practices in your jurisdiction, province, or state. Before calling an attorney, or when doing so, the first thing to verify is that the attorney you are seeking for assistance is practicing in the correct jurisdiction. The best help an attorney can give you if you don’t is to direct you to the address of another attorney.

2) Practice focus: expert or hobbyist

One of the next questions to ask your potential disability attorney is “what is your area of ​​expertise?” Does the attorney you are speaking with practice in the area you need assistance with?

The area of ​​law practiced by an attorney can encompass any area in which they have a competence and a client. Unfortunately, this way of regulating lawyers, which allows them to practice any area in which they have competence, is difficult to enforce.

For that reason, you should make sure that the attorney you are looking to hire has real experience in long-term disability law. Read their website, see what they have written, do you focus on disability law or some other area with disability law only as an aside, if it appears at all?

3) Billing method: hourly vs. contingency

Most long-term disability beneficiaries are not in a position to pay hourly legal fees or retainers up front. Make sure the attorney you are speaking with offers contingency fee billing, which means that you are paid before legal fees are paid and only as a portion of what you receive. This eliminates much of the risk of a lawsuit for many clients.

4) Relationship and chemistry

Finally, and possibly most importantly, talk to your prospective attorney to see if you have chemistry. This will be the person to guide you on your disability claim, which can take some time, even years. Make sure it’s someone you feel comfortable calling and talking with when you are in your time of need.

Happy lawyer hunting.