The market size of personal injury lawyers in the U.S. amounts to over $37 billion.
It is estimated that there are nearly 100,000 personal injury lawyers in America.
If you’ve had an accident, it’s important that you find an attorney that has your best interest in mind. Unfortunately, while there are a lot of good lawyers out there, there are also predatory and unethical attorneys.
Protect yourself and your family by avoiding ambulance chasers. Here’s how to spot them.
What Are Ambulance Chasers?
Ambulance chasers are lawyers who prey upon individuals immediately after an accident. It is a derogatory term, named after lawyers who literally follow ambulances to emergency rooms in search of clients.
It’s no wonder these unethical professionals are viewed with disdain in society, as they try to hone in on desperate people after a disaster of some kind. They will sometimes pay paramedics, cops, nurses, and hospital staff to gain information about injury victims. Frequently, they’ll contact accident victims and persuade them to sign an agreement of representation.
How Can You Spot an Ambulance Chaser?
Ambulance chasing is illegal in the United States. If a personal injury lawyer contacts you without your request, this is a violation of the law. There are strict ethics rules that prohibit a lawyer from soliciting either an injured party or members of their family.
Contact in the form of phone calls, emails, texts, or in-person visits is all forms of solicitation. These unethical personal injury lawyers will sometimes have “investigators” that work for them, and it is also illegal for them to contact you without your request.
The only exception to this law regarding direct attorney contact is if they have a pre-existing relationship with the prospective client, such as friendship or being family members.
If you are being solicited by attorneys after an accident, you should not sign a contract with them. Instead, you should find a lawyer by shopping around on your own and asking for recommendations from friends and colleagues you trust. Even if an ambulance chaser seems like a nice person, the fact that they’re willing to break the law and the ethics of the profession is a reason to stay far away from them.
Did you find a lawyer for an injury after they contacted you without your request? It’s possible that you may have hired a bad lawyer.
Hiring the Right Lawyer Can Make All the Difference
After an accident or an injury, you can be in pain, stressed, and medicated. On top of that, the stress of hiring the right lawyer can seem like a bit too much to handle.
To avoid this, it is a good idea to do research into local attorneys when you haven’t had a disaster. Having a list of reputable personal injury lawyers to call in the case of an accident can ensure that no one takes advantage of you during a difficult time.
Did you find this article about ambulance chasers helpful? If so, be sure to check out the rest of our blog for more informative articles!
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