Find Answers To Your Questions By Searching Here:

How you can be sure the lawyer you are considering is NOT the right lawyer for you

Almost immediately after the Transocean Deepwater Horizon accident occurred, I urged crewmembers and their families not to fall victim to pressure tactics from representatives of Transocean or BP or lawyers.

Unfortunately, I have received some troubling reports that attorneys and/or their representatives were making unsolicited or unwanted contact with family members of the crewmembers of the Deepwater Horizon. I've also see troubling advertising where lawyers talk about the "hundreds of millions of dollars" they've recovered for clients in similar cases.

I have been very critical of Shuman Consulting and other intermediaries of Transocean and/or BP for contacting crewmembers and their family members and apparently pressuring them to sign papers or give statements before the investigations even began.

If you were a crewmember of the Transocean Deepwater Horizon or a family member of a crewmember, it is also completely inappropriate for any lawyer to contact you without your permission unless you have a prior relationship (either personal or professional) with that lawyer.

I have been urging crewmembers of the Transocean Deepwater Horizon to NOT sign any papers presented them so soon after the rig explosion disaster. To be clear, this would apply to crewmembers signing papers by lawyers calling them out of the blue.

Here's the plain truth: Crewmembers and the family of the crewmembers can choose any lawyer they want to represent them. Although the precise cause of the accident is unknown at this time, clearly the crewmembers themselves are not at fault. Much of the legal claims will likely involve proving which company was at fault for the rig explosion and dividing responsibility for payment of injury claims amongst the responsible companies, and then determining the amount of a fair and reasonable settlement.

It should raise a huge red flag in your mind if a lawyer calls you out of the blue or offers you money to sign their papers. It should also raise a red flag if someone who is not a lawyer offers to pay you money to hire a particular lawyer (how do you know that that person is not being paid?).

With all the misinformation and pressure out there, how do you know what to do? Here are some tips I hope you find helpful:

1. Don't hire any lawyer who calls you out of the blue.

This is very straightforward. Any lawyer who calls you out of the blue is not the lawyer you want because they are only looking out for themselves and calling someone out of the blue is totally inappropriate.

2. Interview several law firms before deciding which one to hire.

If a lawyer pressures you to hire them immediately, then you can probably assume that there is a reason for that. And if the lawyer is telling you that you may lose valuable legal rights if you don't hire the lawyer immediately, you know they are probably not telling you the truth.

Take your time. You want to hire the best lawyer FOR YOU. That means hiring a lawyer who you can TRUST and who has experience handling cases under maritime law.

3. Hire an experienced maritime lawyer

Immediately after the rig explosion attorneys started advertising for these cases. Many of these lawyers may have never represented a client in a maritime rig explosion. But now that the rig exploded they want you to be their first client in a rig explosion case? Do you really want to be the first client the lawyer has ever represented in a maritime injury case or a rig explosion?

It is hard for someone who is injured or grieving to sort through all the lawyer websites and figure out what is true and what is not true. You need to do your homework and not just believe everything some lawyer puts on the Internet.

4. Hire a Board Certified lawyer

You may want to consider hiring a Board Certified Personal Injury lawyer. A lawyer who is Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial law has been approved by the State Bar after demonstrating sufficient levels of experience and expertise in that field. It is not absolutely mandatory that you hire a Board Certified lawyer, of course, but it may be something you want to strongly consider.

5. Hire a lawyer the companies respect

You want the companies to respect the lawyer you hire. You don't want to hire a lawyer who the companies know won't push your case to the very end.

How do you know if the companies respect the lawyer you hire? One way is to find out is to ask how many maritime cases the law firm has actually won and how many they have lost. Ask them that question, and ask them to give you some sort of PROOF that they have actually won maritime cases on behalf of other clients.

6. Ask the lawyer if you can talk to some of their maritime clients

What about asking the lawyer to talk to people who that lawyer has actually represented in a maritime injury case? Or you could also ask for a list of testimonials from past clients. We are proud of the work we've done for our clients and they routinely agree to provide testimonials that prove that they appreciated the work we did on their case. Any lawyer who won't let you talk to a few former or current clients should raise serious red flags in your mind.

7. Hire a lawyer you TRUST completely

The lawyer-client relationship is a relationship that involves TRUST. You are relying on the lawyer to give you candid, straightforward advice about your case, what you should do while the case is ongoing, and how much money is reasonable and fair.

You must trust the lawyer you hire. After all, in some respects, that lawyer holds your financial future in his or her hands. You need to trust the lawyer you hire and feel comfortable that they are not just in the case for themselves.

8. How do I know what my case is worth?

Right now, you don't. And neither does any lawyer. No one does. It's just too soon.

If a lawyer is telling you exactly what your case is worth right now, they are blowing smoke. The important thing right now is to keep close tabs on the investigation, get appropriate medical treatment from well-respected medical professionals, and get any necessary tests and evaluations. It is also important to figure out your economic losses (your lost wages, both past and future). You need to have your economic losses evaluated by a top-notch economic expert. A competent lawyer can explain all this to you in a way that's easy to understand and can help you through the process.

9. Should I take an offer from the company and NOT hire a lawyer?

Here's some more truth for you: At some point the companies are likely to offer you a substantial amount of money for your case even if you don't hire a lawyer to represent you. Should you take the companies' offer?

This is always a difficult question. I've seen companies practically beg an injured worker to take a settlement and not hire a lawyer. The company will tell the worker that they will end up getting less money because they will have to pay a lawyer a percentage of their case.

In general, my experience has been that the companies always offer substantially more money to an injured maritime worker if he or she has a lawyer.

10. Will I get blackballed in the industry if I hire a lawyer or pursue a legal claim?

I've written extensively on this question because it is one of the top concerns that my clients express to me.

Read this article and watch this video for the answer to the question.

Free Resources for Transocean Deepwater Horizon Rig Explosion Victims

You can read a lot of informative articles about the Transocean rig explosion here. And you don't even need to hire a lawyer to read these articles!

You can also order Free Copies of our books and Reports on maritime cases, how to Protect Your Future following a maritime injury, How to Hire the Best Attorney for Your Case, and about the Transocean Rig Explosion.

Click here to order Free Copies of our books.

Brian Beckcom

www.TheMaritimeLawyer.com

www.MaritimeAccidentAttorney.com