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Consultation Process
Hiring a lawyer starts with an initial consultation. At Larrimore & Farnish, there is never a fee charged for this initial meeting with one of our attorneys. At the conclusion of the initial consultation, you will learn how we can help with you legal problem and be fully informed about the fees that would be charged. In most cases, our firm takes on personal injury claims under a contingent fee agreement and you will not have to pay any legal fees unless we are able to make a recovery for you.
The consultation process starts with the scheduling of an appointment. Please call our office (at 215-209-8500) and ask to schedule an appointment with an attorney to discuss a new matter. If an attorney is not available when you call, please ask for one of the assistants to our lawyers. They will be able to schedule the initial appointment for a time when an attorney will be able to give you the time necessary for the initial meeting.
You may be asked some preliminary questions so that we can determine the attorney best suited to meet with you. If your injuries would prevent you from coming to the office, ask if an attorney can meet you in your home or in another convenient location.
At the time of the initial consultation, you should bring any papers or documents that might in any way be relevant to your claim. If you were injured in a motor vehicle accident, be sure to have a copy of your automobile insurance policy, even if your car was not involved in the crash. Under our insurance laws, your own policy may be important in determining the full extent of the recovery you can receive. If you were injured on someone else's property, be sure to have the correct address of the property and, if possible, photographs or a description of the dangerous condition which caused your injury. In all cases, have the names and address of the medical care providers who treated you for the injuries you received. Bring any letters or papers you may have received from insurance carriers or hospitals concerning the claim.
The initial consultation will involve several components. You will be asked some basic questions which will help us to get to know you better. We need to know your address, date of birth, social security number, and information about your family and employment in order to represent your interests adequately. In a personal injury claim, we will also ask about your medical history prior to the injury in order to fully understand the impact that the incident had on your health and well being. We will ask you to describe in detail the incident that resulted in your claim, and ask you to describe the injuries, pains and limitations you have because of the trauma. We will ask about any loss of earnings and about the effect that the injuries may be having on your life.
In a personal injury claim of any kind, our goal as your attorneys will be to obtain the maximum possible recovery for you, in order to fully and adequately compensate you for your injuries. If we undertake your case, we will be your zealous advocates, working hard to achieve results your desire.
Everything you tell us will be confidential. Even if the initial consultation does not result in the creation of an attorney-client relationship, your disclosure of private information to one of our attorneys will be held in confidence.
During the initial consultation, we must make a determination of whether or not we will be able to assist you with your legal problem. If we are unable to help you, we will certainly try to refer you to another attorney with experience in the particular field of law necessary for your problem. We recognize the sincere responsibilities which follow our agreement to represent your interests and we will only undertake that representation if we are confident that we will be able to help you achieve the legal results you desire. If we decide to take on your claim, we will ask you to sign various documents, including a fee agreement and authorizations which will enable us to obtain the medical and employment records necessary to document your claim.
At the conclusion of the initial consultation, please notify us if you have any questions. We recognize that legal terminology may be unfamiliar to many clients and that some of the matters that we review during our first meeting may be confusing. We hope that you will contact us concerning any points that you do not fully understand regarding the process which we are undertaking together on your behalf.