Ambulance Chasers - Personal Injury Lawyers?

[Kristy]

So glad I heard about this site. We were having a dinner party the other evening and one of our friends was recently injured in his workplace. He works on building sites and he said that he had been told by his workmates that he should see a Personal Injury Lawyer.

We were then told by C that we needed an "ambulance chaser". C who is American said that that's what they call them over there. My two questions are.. What is an ambulance chaser? and How does our friend find good Personal Injury Lawyers? Should he go to one of the big firms or maybe the small firms and what sort of money does he need to give them?

We hope you can answer these questions and then we can tell our friends to click on your website if they need to know anything.

Thanks.

 

[Worldly1]

Hi Kristy

Sounds like your friend is lucky to have you looking out for him.

In response to your questions:
1. The term “ambulance chaser” is used in Australia as a derogatory term for personal injury lawyers with dodgy tactics (i.e, insinuating those who chase after ambulances to get a client). You don’t want your friend to engage someone who has a reputation as an ambulance chaser, you want a lawyer who works hard and smart for him, and is ethical.

2. You will see there have been other posts on LawAnswers about “What's the process when making a personal injury law claim?” and “Who are the best personal injury lawyers or compensation lawyers (ideally no win no fee lawyers)?”.

As noted in the LawAnswers post about best personal injury lawyers, there are two big firms that have offices in capital cities across Australia, but there are some smaller to mid-sized firms that have good reputations as well. In which State is your friend located? Then forum members might be able to give additional location-specific personal injury lawyer suggestions.

Your friend will need a personal injury lawyer experienced in workers compensation. No lawyer is cheap and fees vary. Your friend will need to ask about fees at his first meeting with the lawyer he chooses to meet (or lawyers if he wants to compare a couple). Ideally, your friend’s lawyer will enable a settlement without court action. If things go to court, then he’d potentially be looking at a minimum tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees (which may be on a no win no fee basis, but its still an expensive process).

And yes, I recently joined LawAnswers, having a background in law but no longer practising, and I think its a great resource for people to share their knowledge/experiences.