Before hiring an experienced and skilled car accident attorney, you need to audit his ethical standards, besides applying the other regular checks. Remember that when you hire a lawyer, you are placing your financial future in his hands and therefore you need to be diligent and ensure that you are dealing with a legal firm that complies with Utah State Bar’s code of ethics.
Sometimes, even the best lawyers for car accidents violate ethical standards and compromise your case. An unethical lawyer can severely damage your case and the consequences can be devastating. You can end up accepting a lesser claim than you rightfully deserve, or even lose the case and reputation, in the worst case.
To help car accident victims, we compiled this guide that will help them perform a limited ethics audit on the lawyer they intend to appoint:
Conducting an Ethics Audit
- Conflict of Interest: If the attorney is representing the defendant in another case, he should not accept the victim as a client. Likewise, there can be multiple instances that amount to a conflict of interest. The victim should, therefore, clarify all these things with the lawyer before hiring him.
- Taking Advantage of Vulnerable or Financially Weak Clients: The Utah Office of Professional Conduct website handles cases of ethics violations, but keeps the information confidential. So, this type of violation is difficult to discover but the violations are listed.
- Loaning Money to a Client: All the top personal injury lawyers in Utah work on a contingency fee basis – meaning that they don’t get paid if the client doesn’t win. In many cases, a client can find himself short of funds for his medical treatment or other out-of-pocket expenses. Whatever the case may be, the lawyer cannot loan money to his client – that amounts to a violation of ethics. However, the attorney can connect the client with a financing company. So, if the lawyer says he will loan money to you, it implies that he doesn’t care much about ethics.
- Guaranteeing a Win: There is no guarantee that a lawyer can win a legal case, and if he is explicitly guaranteeing you a win, it is once again an ethics violation. Look for another lawyer if the one you are interviewing is guaranteeing success.
- Other Ethical Standards: Defrauding a client, being dishonest or negligent in discharging duties, not preparing for a trial, not following court orders, missing meetings or deadlines, revealing confidential information, failing to disclose material information to the client, having an affair with the client, and abandoning the case or improperly terminating it – all these are examples of ethics violations. However, you cannot discover such violations unless you have experienced them.
If you are concerned about the attorney you intend to hire, you need to submit a CAP (Consumer Assistance Program) request form with the Utah State Bar and obtain the required information. If you have already hired a lawyer and if you find he is violating ethics, you can file a complaint with the Office of Professional Conduct.
The best way would be to conduct your very own check with due diligence by speaking with the attorney, checking his website, speaking with his clients, and taking advantage of the free initial consultation that the best lawyers for car accidents in Utah offer.
Speaking of a free initial discussion, here is our offer:
FREE INITIAL DISCUSSION
We consider our firm to be among the best lawyers for car accidents in Utah. We are experienced, skilled, resourceful, ethical, and above all, very successful.
But don’t take our word for it – take advantage of our free initial discussion, during which we will be happy to prove that we can handle your case ethically and professionally.
During the meeting, you will also learn:
- Your approximate compensation claim
- Your case’s strengths and weaknesses
- How we can strengthen your case
Our firm is ethical and loyal to clients and has many years of experience in winning cases.
We work on a contingency fee basis – you don’t pay if you don’t win.
Finally, you have plenty to gain and nothing to lose by meeting us. Go ahead, contact us now.
