I’ve been in the personal injury law business for over 25+ years. I’ve worked for the largest personal injury law firm in the State of Indiana for several years, but also worked in a small one-person or two-person office as well
The truth of the matter is that the size of the law firm does not guarantee a better result — the size of the lawyer’s heart determines your chance of success much more likely.
Most big law firms assign individual cases to one lawyer anyway. So, whether the law firm has 20 lawyers or just 2 lawyers, your case is still being treated on an individual basis. One advantage of a big law firm is the type of case they can handle due to to expenses like a mass tort with many, many injured people by the same product or entity. Or a class action lawsuit.
But, the slip and fall in a company parking lot or the automobile hit by a semi-truck driver? Those are handled the same way whether you walk into a Golden Palace or a small office.
There are some other considerations, too. The smaller office tends to be more responsive. You aren’t required to talk to case managers, paralegals and other staff before you can reach your attorney — who might or might not call you back. In a small office, you get personal attention.
There are other logical ideas, too. The big firms with the luxurious offices have big overhead — they need to settle lots and lots of cases in order to meet their obligations. Sometimes, your case is not being looked at with an eye towards your best interests. It’s sad, but true. I’ve seen it happen. There can be undue pressure on an injured person to settle to meet quotas and other reports of performance.
Your best chance for success comes from within — not from without. If your lawyer cares about you and wants to succeed, then odds are you will, too.
The most important thing is to be able to trust who is advising you.
