Your First Call to Your Attorney

Transcript: Hi. I’m Indiana personal injury attorney David Holub.

A question that is often asked is, “Is it necessary to explain to the attorney every single detail about my case when I call the attorney for the first time for an initial consultation?”

The answer is no.

Your initial call to us is a very informal process and we are just looking for quick information to help determine how to best serve you. Our questions are designed to help the attorney get key facts so that we can make that assessment. Several critical facts are important to help the attorney analyze your case when you first call.

Generally, we want to know the nature and extent of your injuries. We don’t need tons of detail. We don’t need to know how many weeks you’ve spent in the hospital in intensive care, we just need to know the basics. Most of our questions also cover timing issues. We want to know if you have waited too long to make a call to us.

Many cases have statutes of limitation, which set forth time periods that a case must be initiated, and if the case is not started in a court or otherwise started with proper notices within that time period, the case may be foreclosed.

So we always ask information that is geared to, “Is it too late to be talking to an attorney?” Another key question we usually ask is designed to find out if there’s insurance coverage–whether the other driver has insurance, whether you have insurance that might cover it. Insurance coverage getting you money–that’s an important factor that we need to know about so that we can advise you. Another factor is we ask questions trying to find out if, for example, a defendant might be immune from being held responsible in a lawsuit.

For example, sometimes the government is immune from its actions under a particular statute or law, and we try to ask questions to find out that information in the intial call. We also seek information designed to find out the relative fault of the parties. For example, if it’s an intersection collision, we want to know what you may have done that contributed to the collision, what the other party did that contributed to the collision, and even if there is a third party that contributed to the collision, we try to focus on those bits of information.

This initial screening call usually takes two to five minutes, and at that point in time we make a determination on whether you should come in and give us more information. I hope this informational video has provided you some information on that to expect when you call our office for information about whether or not you have a case.

For more informational videos, please check out our website.

[tweetthis] [/tweetthis]