HOW TO SWITCH YOUR LAWYER IN UTAH?

FREE CONSULTATION WITH AN ATTORNEY

The Process for Switching Your Personal Injury Lawyer in Utah

If you hired an attorney to help you with your accident or personal injury case and you you’re no longer satisfied with them, you have the right to switch to another attorney. In fact, you don’t even have to be dissatisfied with them. You can literally change your attorney for any reason whatsoever.

Common Reasons for Switching Attorneys

People wish to switch their attorneys for a number of reasons. Here are some of the reasons our clients that have come to us have shared for why they wanted to change their lawyer:

Poor Communication
We know that you want to be kept in the loop regarding what is happening with your case. We know this because our clients have told us and because switching clients have told us this is one of the main reasons why they left their lawyer to come over to our office.
Not Comfortable with Your Attorney.
Maybe you feel your attorney is too young and inexperienced or doesn’t specialize in personal injury. Or maybe you feel you’re getting the cold shoulder from him or her or their staff. Maybe it’s a gut instinct that is telling you to just move on. You should trust your gut.
Treats You Like a Number
We know that in your time of need, you want your attorney and their team to care about you and your case. You don’t want to be treated like a number, even if your case isn’t the biggest in the world. You want someone who is personable and caring more than you want someone who is “super aggressive” or is going to get “a pound of flesh” from the other side.
Attorney Is Not Taking Action
Maybe you’ve been done with your treatment for a while and your case is just dragging. You’re not sure what’s going on, but you want to see some action.
No Help with Lost Wages, Essential Services or Property Damage
Not every personal injury law firm can or will agree to help with these things. If they’re unwilling or are just flat out not helping, you have the right to find another lawyer that can help with making a claim for these benefits that you’re entitled to through your own auto policy.
No Clear Strategy in Your Case
Did your lawyer discuss with you how your case would go? What the plan was? Did you discuss the importance of “mitigating your damages” by seeing all the health care providers that could help you get back to where you were before your injury, as close as possible? What do you know about the timeline to get your case resolved?

You’re Not Even Sure How You Ended Up Signing with Your Lawyer!
If you signed with a lawyer soon after you suffered a brain injury or a concussion, then maybe the decision to hire your current lawyer wasn’t the best decision you have made in your life. Other times, you may not even be sure how you ended up with your current lawyer. Perhaps a chiropractor, who wanted to get their bills paid, pushed you into signing with one: You went for treatment one day and there was a lawyer in his office with forms for you to sign. You just went along with it without ever having had a chance to research who would be the best fit. Or maybe someone showed up in the emergency room with these same forms or your body shop guy pressured you into signing with a lawyer from a stack of cards that he had been asked to hand out.
Your Lawyer Shares Office Space with a Chiropractor
I’m not making this one up and can give you examples of where this is happening today. If this is the case for you, it should show you that your lawyer and chiropractor are joined at the hip and will obviously refer to each other every chance they get, regardless of the quality of the lawyer (or doctor, for that matter). Later, you’ll find out that the insurance company is low-balling your case because of this sketchy, office-sharing arrangement.
Your Lawyer Has a Strict No-Filing Policy
What is your lawyer’s policy on filing a case to help increase its value? Are they scared or uninterested in doing so? Will they simply farm out your case to a less fearful attorney if they get low-balled or denied by the insurance company? The problem with having a no-file lawyer is that the insurance company knows they can offer lower value for a case if your attorney doesn’t even know how to get to the courthouse. In fairness to the no-file lawyers, not every case requires that it be filed in court. In fact, the majority of cases will be settled without this happening. But when a no-file attorney doesn’t file cases, the insurance company will tag this attorney as a “settling” attorney and the settlement values will generally be lower with that attorney versus a lawyer who files when necessary to preserve their client’s right to a fair money resolution of their case.

Reasons to Stay with Your Attorney

Your Lawyer Already Has an Offer on Your Case

If you are considering leaving your lawyer with an offer on the table, you should know that the first lawyer will likely have a “lien” on your case for one-third of the amount of the settlement offer. This fact will likely cause the second attorney to pause before agreeing to represent you because they will essentially be working for free until they can increase the offer above what the first attorney was able to get. An attorney looking at a scenario very likely may decide to pass on the case if such a lien exists. This does not mean, however, that you cannot find a lawyer who feels that your case is worth lots more than what is being offered. Our firm handled such as case where the client was represented by a law firm you have seen on a billboard and they had managed to get an offer of $30,000 on a semi-truck versus semi-truck case and was pressuring the client to take the offer. We came in as the second attorney and after working up the case, was able to get the client an amount that was almost 10 times what the first firm had obtained.

Your Case Is Involved and/or Has Difficult Liability Facts

In offering free second opinions over the years, I have looked at cases and thought that the first attorney was doing the client a favor by taking the case in the first place and that their case was not one that I would have signed up. In these situations, I have encouraged the potential client to stay with their original attorney and have, at times, sent an email to that attorney (and sometimes even a phone call) to encourage them to maintain good communication with the client, as it was the lack of it that usually drove them to look elsewhere.

Questions Frequently Asked About Switching Attorneys

How Do I Switch Without Hurting the Attorney’s Feelings?

No one likes to be rejected and we sometimes stay in a bad relationship – personal or professional – because we fear hurting the other person’s feelings. It’s no different when that relationship happens to involve a lawyer. Luckily, the second attorney can do the “dirty work” involved with giving the first attorney the bad news that you are wanting to switch attorneys. It’s nothing personal, it’s just you exercising your right to hire a lawyer you are comfortable and confident with. And the second attorney can arrange all the details to make that happens without you having to do anything but say the word.

What If There Is an Offer on the Table?

When you switch attorneys, the second attorney agrees to take care of whatever fee may be owing to the first attorney, whether it’s for a percentage of a settlement offer they secured or a “per diem” payment for the time the first attorney put into the case. In no case should your attorney fee be greater just because you switched lawyers. The second attorney will generally respect the fee arrangement of the first attorney and there should be no increase to the typical one-third attorney fee, or 40% if the cases goes into litigation.

Can I Get a Second Opinion on Whether I Should Switch?

Changing lawyers is something you should be careful doing as you don’t want to go from one bad relationship to another. You obviously will want to do your own soul searching and then talk to an attorney or attorneys to seek feedback on whether they feel your case is going in the right direction. When I meet with people who are not happy with their current lawyer and are asking for advice, I review the facts with them and give them a “second opinion” (pursuant to Rule 4.2 of the Utah Rules of Professional Conduct) of what I would have done if their case was in our office. If I met with you, for example, I would tell you that I’m not looking to “steal” your case from the first attorney and would let you know that you have the right to switch attorneys, if that’s what you want to do. Following this explanation, we have been asked if we could take over the case. If I had the chance to speak with you, I could usually let you know on the spot if yours is a case we could help you with and if it meets our case selection criteria. Occasionally, we would need to do additional research to make sure we would be the best fit as a replacement lawyer.

Steps to Take When Switching Attorneys

Consult with Another Attorney for a Second Opinion

Even though you may currently be represented by another attorney, you have the right to consult with another one to get a second opinion under Rule 4.2 of the Utah Rules of Professional Conduct. That second attorney, likewise, is entitled to give you an unbiased second opinion of how they feel your case is going and what their recommendations might be.

Sign Up with Another Attorney

The choice to change lawyers is yours. If are ready to make the change, however, you will need to sign the retainer agreement of the new attorney and likewise sign their medical record and authorization forms.

The New Firm Will Let the Old Firm Know That They Are Taking Over

Once you officially sign with the new attorney, then that firm can reach out to your old attorney and let them know that their services are no longer required and that they should send the file to the new firm.

Free Second Opinion Offer

Our firm is pleased to offer a second opinion on your accident or personal injury case. There is no charge for this. Because we are selective, we will generally pre-screen the case to make sure it is a case we have experience handling. Don’t put off making a change when you know things aren’t going right. Call today to get your second opinion scheduled.