Being in a car accident can be terrifying and bewildering. It can leave you not knowing what your next steps should be. If you’re lucky, you have some resource telling you just how to handle this disaster. Of course, the good news is that there are many avenues for finding free legal aid that can help you make the right choices when you’re the unfortunate victim of a smashup.
Why It’s Important to Seek Legal Guidance After Being Involved in an Automobile Collision
There are many reasons why legal advice is extremely important after a car accident.
Determining fault is crucial when it comes to insurance claims and the potential for lawsuits, and legal professionals play a significant role in this process.
Navigating the insurance claim process can often be maddeningly complex—although it doesn’t have to be. Expertise exists to help you sort things out. And it’s not only the company you hold a policy with that may have lengthy contradictions within its own communication; your policy itself may be a monument to illusory promises. However, if you know what to look for in your policy—and what the policy doesn’t pay for—you can often obtain a settlement quite close to what you consider “fair.”
Knowing Your Rights: Legal professionals possess the knowledge to elucidate individual laws and statutes that revolve around a given situation. This, of course, includes the inevitable issues of limits on time and place—where an act must be committed within prescribed boundaries in either space or time or, more likely, both—for that act to be considered a violation of the law.
Finding free legal advice can be a formidable challenge. However, if you know where to look, there are a number of places you might find free legal advice and information. Although it will not be the same as having a private lawyer concentrate solely on your problem, it’s definitely a place to start when it comes to legal issues. This fact sheet will help you decide where to look to find legal advice that’s right for your situation.
Legal aid clinics in the vicinity.
If you meet certain income requirements, you are eligible for free legal services offered by legal aid organizations. These clinics might be able to give you information or guidance, or they might directly represent you. The help provided is top-notch, with licensed attorneys and law students being the primary workers at these firms.
For the most up-to-date information on finding a legal aid clinic in your area, visit the Legal Services Corporation’s website. Don’t forget the local search, too; you can often save a bit of time by searching directly for “legal aid” and your city or state.
Services provided by the Bar Association for helping people find lawyers.
Several state or local bar associations have a system that allows them to put you in touch with lawyers who offer free initial consultations. This is an amazing chance to have a conversation about your situation with an expert and reach an early determination about the next step to take—whether that means engaging a lawyer in earnest or pursuing an alternative resolution. Some of these bar associations also have “legal aid clinics” on certain days, where lawyers volunteer their time to give free preliminary advice.
Legal services that are available online
Avvo, LegalZoom, and Nolo are examples of websites that provide tools and resources for asking legal questions. Frequently, these questions are answered by licensed attorneys. These sites are a good starting place, and not just because they are free. Avvo not only allows you to look up an attorney’s background and verified client reviews, but it also has a directory of attorneys who volunteer their time to answer your questions. There is always the wall of anonymity, but you should be able to find someone in your zip code who can give you a specific area of law to ask your question about.
Charitable organizations.
There are some non-profit organizations that might provide legal assistance without a fee. They usually deal with helping people who have been in accidents or who have road safety issues. Examples of such organizations are the National Association of Personal Injury Lawyers and the American Association for Justice. Referrals from these groups or similar ones could allow an accident victim to consult a lawyer at no out-of-pocket expense.
Clinical programs do more to prepare law students than anything else. Working with real clients on pressing issues—before they graduate—law students dive deep into the practice of law, under the careful supervision of experienced attorneys. “Clinics teach people to be lawyers,” says NCCU School of Law Professor Lisa Radtke Bliss. “You can be thrown into the deep end of a law firm and figure it out. But clients of that firm will pay if you make mistakes. In a clinic, students can afford to make mistakes.”
In clinics, NCCU law students work with many clients who cannot afford to hire an attorney—folks who have run into trouble with criminal charges, their immigration status, evictions, debts, custody issues, and a range of other serious legal problems. “From day one at the clinic, you’re challenged,” says Richard Hooks Wayman, director of NCCU’s Medical Legal Partnership Clinic. “You’re working on real legal problems that affect real people.”
Numerous law schools have clinics in which law students render legal services under the observation of veteran attorneys. These clinics may concentrate on personal injury law or civil litigation and can offer very good, and mostly free, legal advice and services.
Public bodies
There are a few government agencies that can give advice or refer you to no-cost legal services. This is particularly the case if your accident is an unusual one, like, for instance, if you were in an accident that involved a government vehicle or happened on public property.
Getting ready for a legal consultation is sometimes like preparing for a test. The better prepared you are, the more you will get out of it, provided, of course, that you have chosen your counsel well. Although you need to cover a lot of territory in an initial consultation, you must do more than simply relate the basic facts of your case. You need to bring your lawyer a clear and concise rendition of those facts that highlights the points favorable to you and, if possible, downplays those against you. Before the consultation itself, you have a number of steps you can take to ensure that you do just that.
To get the greatest value out of your complimentary lawful consultation, you must make sure you are well-prepared. This is imperative because, during this time, you have the opportunity to share the details of your case and learn what an attorney thinks about it. There is some information that you should gather ahead of time. Here is the complete “prep list.”
Record All: Gather any documents associated with the incident. Make sure to include all – the police report, your medical records, any photographs that were taken, and any communications you’ve had with your insurance company.
Create a list of questions that you have about your legal rights, the process of making a claim, or what comes next in order to resolve the situation.
Be Clear About Your Objectives: Know what you aim to accomplish. This could mean obtaining a settlement that covers your damages, getting your medical expenses paid for, or just finding out what you can do legally in your situation.
What should I ask during my a consultation?
It is crucial to inquire about critical matters throughout your consultation. This can lead to a thorough comprehension of your situation and the options that are available to you.
- For the accident, who is held legally responsible?
- What rights and obligations do I have?
- If I am owed any payback of some sort, what kind of payback might that be?
- What is the best way for me to speak to my insurance company and the insurance company of the other party?
- If my case were to go to court, what might happen as a result?
The aftermath of a car accident is difficult, yet having appropriate legal counsel can really help. When you consult legal resources, you have the opportunity to figure out your situation better and, in turn, to make better decisions. Even with free resources, the kinds that are easily available, this can be a huge help. And always remember: achieving a goal isn’t just about the “what” certain people are hoping to achieve; it’s also about the “how.” Make sure you do it the right way from here on out.
Image: https://pixabay.com/photos/car-accident-broken-glass-splatter-337764/
