1) How do you get paid? Most lawyers who handle personal injury and wrongful death cases work on a contingency fee basis. This means that the lawyer is paid only if he/she gets money for you. If they get you money, then the attorney gets a percentage of what you get. If the lawyer loses the case or does not get you any money, then the lawyer does not get a fee. At CRAIG, KELLEY & FAULTLESS, LLC., we work on a contingency basis. We are not paid unless and until we are able to collect money on your behalf. We never ask you for any fees in advance or at anytime until your claim is resolved. 2) What percentage of the recovery do you charge? Before you hire an attorney, you should know what percentage of the money you receive goes to the lawyer. The percentage charged by lawyers is not always the same. Some lawyers charge more than other lawyers. Some law firms are charging a flat 40% even if the case settles without filing a lawsuit or never goes to trial. These lawyers charge 40% no matter how quickly or easily your case settles. One of the larger advertising lawyers who has billboards, TV ads and also sends out multiple mailings to your home, charges a flat 40% regardless of the amount of work done. Other law firms may even charge more than 40% on auto cases if the case goes to trial. At CRAIG, KELLEY & FAULTLESS, LLC., we charge only one-third (33 1/3%) of the amount collected in auto cases if the case can be settled without the need for a lawsuit. If a lawsuit has to be filed, then the amount of work increases, so the fee goes to 37%. If the case cannot be settled and the law firm has to prepare for trial or goes to trial, then the fee goes to 40%. At CRAIG, KELLEY & FAULTLESS, LLC., our fees do not go over 40% on vehicle crash cases. Most cases settle without the need for filing a lawsuit. Therefore, most CRAIG, KELLEY & FAULTLESS, LLC. clients pay one-third. That is significantly less than the 40% being charged by some. Picking the wrong lawyer can cost you money. The fees discussed above apply to almost every case we handle, unless there is a serious liability issue. 3) How do you handle expenses? In every personal injury claim, there will be expenses. The amount of the expenses associated with the claim will increase at each stage of the case. If the case has to go to trial, the expenses of even a small case are likely to be a few thousand dollars. The way lawyers handle expenses varies from lawyer to lawyer. Some lawyers require clients to pay the expenses as the case proceeds. One competitor has asked for clients to give him a retainer, or money in advance to hold for expenses. Other lawyers advance the expenses and get paid back only when you get your money. If you don't get any money, then they don't get their expenses reimbursed. Other lawyers make you repay their expenses even if they lose your case. Again, you deserve to know the answer to this question before hiring a lawyer. At CRAIG, KELLEY & FAULTLESS, LLC., we advance all expenses associated with your claim or lawsuit. You are never asked for any money while we process your claim. Our expenses get reimbursed when, and only when, you recover money from your claim. If for some reason you never receive any money, then you would not have to repay the expenses advanced by CRAIG, KELLEY & FAULTLESS, LLC. 4) How much experience do you have handling personal injury or wrongful death claims? You deserve to know how much experience the lawyer handling your claim has in handling personal injury and/or wrongful death claims. If the lawyer is a veteran lawyer, you deserve to know how many of the years he/she has devoted to handling personal injury or wrongful death claims. In addition, if the law firm has several lawyers, you deserve to know which lawyers will be working on your case and how much experience each one has. Just because one lawyer has a lot of experience in the personal injury area may not do you any good if someone else in his/her firm is actually handling your case. Also, does an attorney negotiate the claims or does a non-lawyer? CRAIG, KELLEY & FAULTLESS, LLC. has three partners. David W. Craig and William J. Kelley II have been attorneys since 1985, so both have been practicing law for over twenty years. Scott A. Faultless has been practicing law since 1991. David Craig has handled personal injury claims his entire career. All three attorneys only handle personal injury, wrongful death, and insurance claims. The three partners are the ones supervising your case, not a young inexperienced attorney. The other attorneys of CRAIG, KELLEY & FAULTLESS, LLC. also handle only injury claims and have significant experience in this area. At CRAIG, KELLEY & FAULTLESS, LLC., only attorneys negotiate settlements. 5) Who conducts my initial meeting? Many lawyers or law firms send non-lawyers to meet with clients initially. Obviously, those non-lawyers cannot give legal advise. Normally, you want someone present who can answer your questions. Other law firms do not even conduct an initial meeting in person. Consequently, you are forced to make a decision on a lawyer or firm without ever meeting a lawyer face-to-face. Those law firms send you a packet of questions to answer, a contract and other information through the mail. On the other hand, some law firms still make a lawyer available in person to meet with you, listen to you, and answer your questions. You deserve to know how the lawyer you are considering handles initial meetings. CRAIG, KELLEY & FAULTLESS, LLC. will send a lawyer to meet with you face-to-face to discuss your case at the initial meeting. We believe that this meeting is very important to the success of your claim. It is important for your lawyer to obtain all of the information needed as soon as possible. In our opinion, lawyers should be willing to meet with a client initially and anytime during the case. If the lawyer is not willing to meet with you initially, then one would have to wonder how important the case is to that lawyer. CRAIG, KELLEY & FAULTLESS, LLC. does understand that sometimes a client would prefer a telephone conference in lieu of a face-to-face meeting. We will do that. We will, however, still have a lawyer conduct that telephone conference and we will mail the documents to you if that is your preference. 6) How convenient is the law firm? Does the law firm you are thinking about hiring have offices near you or are they an hour or more away? If they do not have an office near you, will they drive to you and meet with you near your home or do they make you drive to them, despite the fact that you are injured? Our main offices at CRAIG, KELLEY & FAULTLESS, LLC. are located in Indianapolis and Batesville, Indiana. However, we have many satellite offices and meeting locations throughout the state. In addition, even if we do not have an office or meeting location near you, we will come to you. The lawyers at CRAIG, KELLEY & FAULTLESS, LLC. believe that every client is important and deserves to be treated that way. Consequently, the initial meeting can be face-to-face nearby or in your home. If you prefer, we can handle everything over the telephone with a lawyer, or through the mail. 7) How big is your office? What resources do you have to help me with my claim? Law firms vary in size and in resources. When picking an attorney, you should know what type of staff he/she has. Do they have private investigators on staff? Do they have a sufficient staff to be able to collect and organize your medical records and expenses promptly? Do they have a law library and/or computer research capabilities to research any legal issue that may come up? At CRAIG, KELLEY & FAULTLESS, LLC., we are very proud of our staff. We have seven attorneys who only represent injured people or people with insurance disputes. We currently employ over thirty people. Our staff includes over ten paralegals with significant personal injury experience. We have a private investigator on our staff who is an experienced accident reconstructionist and a retired Indiana State Police Officer. We have access to government information and the ability to do computerized research. In addition, we have the financial resources available to advance all expenses and hire necessary experts to properly handle your claim. 8) How important are the clients to the lawyer? You can often get a feel for how important you are by how you are treated by the receptionist when you call in and the lawyer you initially talk with. How are you treated? How soon do they return telephone calls? You can tell whether the attorney is willing to make time to meet with you in person or whether he/she would prefer just to send the paperwork through the mail. You can tell how they feel about your case by how willing they are to answer your question - perhaps the questions outlined above. Your case, and every case, is extremely important to everyone at CRAIG, KELLEY & FAULTLESS, LLC. We believe in treating our clients the way we would wish to be treated. We will talk to you on the telephone. We will set aside the time to meet with you face-to-face. We are willing to talk to you when you ask to talk with us. We will meet with you when you want to meet and/or when there are important things going on with your case. We even give our clients our home phone numbers and cell phone numbers. We are not aware of too many lawyers who are willing to do that. 9) Should I hire an attorney just because they are on TV or send a lot of marketing materials? NO. Just because a lawyer is on TV or is good at marketing does not mean that he/she is a good attorney or ethical one. He/she may or may not be good. You need to check into the background of any lawyer you have and get the answer to the questions just raised. Don't just pick someone because you like their TV Ad! 10) Should I hire an attorney that calls me on the telephone or sends someone to my hospital room or house without me making the initial contact? NO. A lawyer is not allowed to contact you in person or by telephone unless you request him/her to contact you. It is unethical for a lawyer to personally solicit your case. It is, however, okay for a lawyer to send a letter or materials through the mail. 11) How many personal injury cases have you tried in the past several years? Most cases settle. However, if your case does not, it makes sense to know that your attorney is experienced trying personal injury cases and is still actively trying cases. A lawyer may call himself/herself a trial lawyer, but never or rarely takes a case to trial. You should know that. You should know whether it is a lawyer's first trial or whether he/she tries cases on a regular on-going basis. At CRAIG, KELLEY & FAULTLESS, LLC., we settle most of our cases. However, we are trial lawyers and WE DO try cases if necessary. At the time this was written, our firm has tried approximately 12 trials in the past two year period. David W. Craig, the primary litigator for the firm, has personally tried, with the assistance of his partners and associates, seven trials in the last 18 months. Ask the law firm you are considering how many trials their partner(s) have tried recently. You might be surprised by the answer (assuming they give you an answer!). 12) With respect to the personal injury trials that you have done, how successful have you been? Not all lawyers are equal. You deserve to know if the lawyers you have selected have won or lost most of his/her trials. If a lawyer has lost most or all of the trials that he/she has conducted, you deserve to know that before making a decision. You also deserve to know if the lawyer has tried a personal injury case similar to yours. David W. Craig, the primary litigator for CRAIG, KELLEY & FAULTLESS, LLC., has been handling personal injury cases for 20 years. He has tried cases in many different counties in Indiana. He has also handled claims in Ohio, Kentucky, Missouri, Kansas, Michigan and even Canada. He has tried a variety of different types of personal injury cases. We will be happy to discuss with you the cases that we have tried and our success rate. We will be happy to compare our trial results with anyone else you are considering.