Why Cant I Find an Attorney to Represent Me

Are you involved in a legal dispute and you’ve been calling around to try and find a lawyer to take your case but you can’t. There are probably a lot of different reasons for this. Check out this video to learn more why you can’t find a lawyer to represent you.

Hey everyone, Barry here with the LawFull Channel. I’m a personal injury attorney in Chicago. On this channel you’re going to find short videos on the legal topics that affect your life.

In this video we’re going to answer the question why you may not be able to find a lawyer to represent you. This is a little bit outside the normal type of video I do on substantive legal topics. But I get this question a lot so I thought I’d do a video about it.

So we’re in the United States and generally speaking our legal system is a good one. Lawyers are the gatekeeper to the legal system. If you really want to win whatever legal dispute you’ve got, one of the best things to improve your odds is to hire a good lawyer.

But a lot of people can’t find lawyers to represent them. And I personally have told hundreds of people that I couldn’t help them. So the question is why – why is it tough sometimes to find a lawyer to represent you. Well I have a laundry list of reasons here and my hope is that it won’t make you angry, it will just kind of give you an answer to the question your were looking for.

So, the first and main reason why a lawyer might not take your case is ---- a law practice is a business. Most lawyers in private practice are working to make money. And just like any business, a lawyer won’t take on a case that is unlikely to make the lawyer money.

Now that sounds harsh. But it’s no different than any business. A car mechanic is not going to work on your car if you can’t pay him. And you can’t buy your groceries unless you pay your bill.

Now it sounds lousy because again we have this idea that lawyers should be public servants. But its just reality.

Let’s look at a few cases where I see this a lot. Now if a lawyer is paid on an hourly basis like a business lawyer or divorce lawyer, it’s real clear right. The lawyer will ask you for a law firm retainer up front and you can or can’t pay. So let’s talk about a few less obvious examples.

First, Small claims court cases. In Illinois, small claims cases are cases up to $10,000. Well, if the maximum recovery is $10k then my attorneys fees are going to be a small fraction of that. And that amount of money is just not enough for most lawyers to get involved in a case. So if you want to know why attorneys don’t like to take small claims cases that’s it.

Next, property damage cases. I get calls all the time from people who want help with their property damage case. Most personal injury attorneys won’t take purely property damage cases because there’s no money to be made in a property damage case.

Another example is where there is disputed liability. I’m talking again about disputed liability in a personal injury case - but let’s say you found out that the insurance company puts you at fault for the accident. This might disuade an attorney from taking your case.

The same thing applies in cases where there are very minor damages. What are personal injury attorneys looking for? Most personal injury lawyers are looking for cases where the damages are larger so that the recovery will be larger.

Ok, what about cases where the cost of litigating the case is too high? So for example, litigating a medical malpractice case is very expensive because you take lots of depositions and hire experts and they’re tough to win. So cost of litigating a case could be a factor.

Another reason could be that your attorney has a conflict – meaning, she or he represented one of the parties involved in your case in another case and as such they are prevented from getting involved in your case.

Another reason might be the Jurisdiction that you are in. For example, if you’re involved in an accident in Virginia or North Carolina, those states follow the concept of contributory negligence. Which means that if you are even 1 percent at fault you can’t recover for your damages. So where you are injured may be a factor.

Also, what insurance company is on the other side might effect whether a lawyer wants to get involved in your case. We often joke about how awful Allstate insurance is to work with. But there are even worse companies like these sub standard insurance companies who only write minimum insurance policies.

And finally, one last reason an attorney might take your case and I’ve had this happen to me many times. You get in an accident and don’t do anything about it until the Statute of limitations is about to run on your case. You call the lawyer and want them to act on your behalf in 48 hours or whatever before the statute runs. Lawyers try to avoid those situations like the plague.

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