Finding an auto accident lawyer in Florida who understands how the Florida system works, has experience in settlements and trials and will be dedicated to your case from beginning to end would be a nice thing to have. The truth is, it’s actually more than a nice thing to have; it’s essential.

One attorney’s unbiased opinion

Brian Labovick, a car accident attorney in South Florida who specializes in auto accident cases, provided us with a truly unbiased opinion of what questions consumers should ask when hiring an auto accident attorney. Here’s what he said:

I think it’s important to ask about their experience, but not just their experience, their level of commitment to the injury and accident process. I think that includes how many trials have they had; how long they’ve been practicing and how long they’ve been doing accident and injury cases. Look at their practices and see if they do things other than accident and injuries. Is the person you’re hiring doing 17 or 18 divorces a year, 25 real estate closings and four automobile accident cases?

My suggestion is that you don’t use that person. Go to somebody who does nothing but automobile accident cases, or nothing but injury cases—slips and falls, automobile, dog bites, medical malpractice or contingent injury cases. There are a lot of those people around. It’s important to find out if they’re committed to the associations related to being injury attorneys and those organizations are usually justice-oriented organizations. One is called the Florida Justice Association (FJA). I think it would be important to be an eagle member of the Florida Justice Association, not just because being an eagle makes you better or worse, but it shows your commitment to the process and your commitment to helping injured people in Florida.

I think as far as the national organization, the American Association for Justice (AAJ) is an important organization to be committed to, then perhaps the M club—that’s M as in Mary—that shows at least some nominal amount of commitment to the National Justice Association and your commitment to being an injury attorney.

Ask these questions

In addition to the above, Labovick said that it’s important that an auto accident attorney is committed to the process as a whole. To gauge an attorney’s commitment, he thinks that consumers should ask these questions:

• What honors has an attorney received?
• Has he or she been honored by any of the organizations listed above?
• Has he or she held positions of responsibility such as directors or officers of the organizations listed above or of local organizations such as the Palm Beach Justice Association?

Labovick said that he wouldn’t just rely on being an AV rated firm by Martindale-Hubble. “It’s a nice thing to have. It’s a nice accoutrement to have and I’m an AV rated attorney with Martindale-Hubble. I’m happy that I am because people ask about it and rely on it, but I wouldn’t rely on that solely and I wouldn’t rely on things like super lawyers. I’m listed in the super lawyer’s guide, which lists the top 5% of lawyers in the state, but I think there are a lot of good lawyers who are not listed and there are some lawyers there who shouldn’t be listed.”

Commitment is key

Commitment to the process is key. While Labovick downplayed the fact that he is an eagle member of the Florida Justice Association on the Board of Directors of the Palm Beach County Justice Association and donates a lot of his time to these causes, he is an avid consumer rights attorney. He explained:

I believe in the rights of consumers in the state of Florida and I think they need protecting. I think it’s important when you find an accident injury lawyer that they believe in what they’re doing; that this isn’t being done as simply a money gig to hustle money out of an insurance company. At that level, you’re going to get a very low value settlement and you’re going to get somebody who doesn’t spend very much time on your claim. You need to find people that do something good for society and believe in these causes, whether they’re medical malpractice causes, injury causes or antifraud causes, etc. I think all of that kind of plays together.