If You’re Local And You’ve Been Injured, Hire A Local Injury Lawyer (Plus: Local Lawyer Toolkit)

L.A. law firms claim they can help you but can actually make your case and your life much worse.

That’s our message to Kern County that you may have seen or heard around town. And we’re sharing several (snarky) reasons why hiring an attorney from Los Angeles is a bad idea, and why if you’re local and you’ve been injured, you should hire a local injury law firm.

Here are the top 10 reasons:

1. L.A. lawyers are harder to get ahold of than Taylor Swift tickets.
2. To them, you’re a number. To us, you’re neighbor.
3. Your lawyer’s office should be closer than Disneyland.
4. Cheesy ads. Red flags.
5. We sponsor local little league teams, not Dodger’s games.
6. Our clients meet our attorneys. You’ll be lucky to talk with one of theirs.
7. If their main selling point is a catchy phone number, that should tell you something.
8. L.A. lawyers don’t even know where Kern County is without Google Maps.
9. You shouldn’t have to fill your gas tank to see your lawyer.
10. Just because they’ll settle for anything, doesn’t mean you have to.

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TOOL KIT: HOW TO IDENTIFY A LOCAL LAWYER

You may be asking, how do I know even know if a lawyer is local to Kern County, especially if they advertise themselves as being local, and have a listed phone number and address that is in Kern County? Wonder no more: Here is tool kit you can use to identify out-of-town law firms that may advertise themselves as having local offices, as well as attorneys who advertise in Kern County but do not live here:

1. Visit their website: Is there anything on the site that points to them being locally based? Or is the website general in nature? If there are no indicators that point to Bakersfield or Kern County, they are likely out-of-town attorneys just looking to get business anywhere they can.
2. Review attorney’s biographies: While on the website, check out the attorney biography pages. Do they support or are involved in local causes? Or did they attend local schools?
3. Confirm their address: Non-local lawyers often list more than one address in cities throughout the state or country. This is a prime indicator that they are not local, but rather looking to get business in a wider area. Do a maps search on the address to make sure it’s real. And if certain addresses pop up on your map, beware. Many out-of-town attorneys often rent out “virtual offices” to fool search engines and online maps (and potential clients) into thinking they actually work out of those offices, when they actually are never there.
4. Call their listed “local” phone number: If you call their supposed local phone number and it’s routed to a call service, that law firm likely is not local, and instead they purchased a local phone number to appear local. You can also ask the receptionist or person who answers the call if he or she is local, or if the attorneys are local. And if their phone number starts with 800 or 866, they are likely not local lawyers.
5. Ask to meet with an attorney: If an attorney takes your case or you are scheduled for a consultation, you should ask to speak with an actual attorney to review your case. Any hesitancy or outright refusal to meet in person is a big red flag.

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MESSAGE FROM CHAIN | COHN | CLARK

There is this misconception that if you have a case in Bakersfield, you need an out-of-town lawyer because:

1) Lawyers are in the pockets of in-town legal officials and will not fairly represent you and your case, or;

2) Out-of-town lawyers are better because they are in a bigger city and are better equipped to handle the case.

It’s important for you to know neither is true. Our firm has handled many cases against local agencies and entities time and time again, including police departments and corporations. Because we are here in Kern County, and have been since 1934, we actually have the upper hand over out-of-town law firms because we are familiar with the people involved in our local systems. We’ve had cases against them before, tried cases against them, taken depositions with them before, and that gives us an advantage.

The other thing we hear is that someone goes out and hires a lawyer, and they never get to hear from them. In our opinion, that’s a terrible way to practice law, which is why we make it a point at Chain | Cohn | Clark to have our lawyers meet with, and speak to, our clients in person. In fact, on the first occasion you meet with us, you will be meeting with your lawyer. If later you have questions of concerns, or want updates on your case, you get to speak with your lawyer. We’ll be by your side every step of the way.

Here at Chain | Cohn | Clark, we not only believe it’s our obligation and duty to provide our clients with the best representation, but we also believe it’s our duty to provide them with the best customer service as well.

We hear all too often of stories from injured people who can never get a hold of their lawyer, never see them, and have no idea what’s going on with their case. They begin to lose trust in the system. These are things we want to avoid, while ensuring you’re represented by the best legal team available. We want you to understand what is happening in your case.

For these reasons, your lawyer is always available to meet with you or speak with you on the phone or meet with you; or, for a lot of clients, email and text message you. We tell all clients that it’s important to understand all the issues in their cases, good and bad. A decision will come to either settle your case or go to trial. In order to make an educated decision, you need to understand what is happening, what could happen, and what all of the legal issues are. We feel if we could explain all of this to our clients, we have done the best job possible. We’ve been around since 1934, and one reason we have been around so long is that we provide superior customer service.

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If you or someone you know is injured in an accident at the fault of someone else, or injured on the job no matter whose fault it is, contact the attorneys at Chain | Cohn | Clark by calling (661) 323-4000, or fill out a free consultation form, text, or chat with us at chainlaw.com.