When someone is searching for a personal injury attorney, they often focus on things like commercials, billboards, or settlement numbers. But the qualities that truly matter are much deeper than marketing. In this episode, catastrophic injury attorney Clarke Speaks breaks down what clients should actually prioritize when choosing a law firm, including communication, responsiveness, transparency, accessibility, and resources.
Here’s what we discuss in this episode:
📞 Communication Matters Most
⚖️ Great Lawyers Need Focus Time
🧩 Process Is Important
⭐ Reviews & Reputation Matter
🔍 Transparency Builds Trust
Featured Keyword & Other Tags
Personal injury lawyer, legal team, client communication, legal representation, attorney reviews, legal process
Client Links
Learn more about how Speaks Law Firm can help you: https://www.speakslaw.com/
Schedule your FREE case review: https://www.speakslaw.com/our-attorney/r-clarke-speaks/#contactFormTarget
Find us on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3R40YMP
Transcript (Click To Read)
Clark: I’m Clark Speaks, the catastrophic injury lawyer. Welcome to the verdict.
Carson Grace Toomer: How exactly important is communication when looking for a lawyer like this?
Clark: Uh, it’s critical, you know, it’s critical. Um, so a law firm has to be able to keep, uh, you up to date on what’s going on, what you need and what, and what they need from you, what you need in terms of medical attention, in terms of, uh, doing the things that you need to do to get better, and then what we need from you in terms of authorization to work, uh, information on what providers you’ve gone to, what medical providers you’ve gone to, and that kind of thing. So that regular communication is critical, but at the same time we’ve got to be able to work. Uh, a week ago probably, uh, we got a call from, we, we got hired on a case. And uh, part of what I do, you know, you know how in a, in a phone service sometimes they’ll say, hey, this call may be recorded for quality assurance or whatever. So our phone system says that sometimes. And so, and so, so a lot of times I’ll listen to calls and so I was listening to a call the other day and I uh, you know, I heard this, uh, this inter. Exchange between two, a person that worked in my office and a, uh, a person that um, had called in and uh, you know, and she was hurting, a wreck or whatever. And I was. So I wanted to call and follow up, you know, just say, hey, I noticed you, you know, you signed up with us and we were helping you. I just want to make sure, see if you had any questions. And um, and I just called her from my cell phone. So, uh, so I mean she, she called me probably six times the next, you know, 24 hours, you know, to, to uh, to ask follow up questions, you know, and at some point I’m like, hey, you know, I got to be able to do. So there’s a process for this. So what the process generally is we want a case manager to keep you in touch with uh, our firm about your progress and then a pre litigation attorney will contact you and you can talk to a lawyer whenever you want to. But if a firm is good enough to help you through your personal injury case, they’re going to be busy enough to where they’re not sitting by the phone waiting for you to call. They’ve got to, to do the things that need to be done to advance your case. And so the idea is that, that you know, they’ll be able to call you back within a reasonable period of time. So, so communication is critical, and it has to be regular and it has to be. They have to be responsive and it has to be meaningful. Um, it does not have to be instantaneous. And in fact, I believe that if it is instantaneous, then there’s something wrong with the firm that you’re working with because they don’t have, uh, enough to do. I mean, just like. And also, you got to think about it like this. If you’re working on something that’s a challenging project for your work or school or whatever, and you are just randomly interrupted in the middle of your stream of thought, you got to stop what you’re doing. You got to pick up a different file and figure out what they’re asking for, um, change gears, uh, maybe find an answer, record that information, document it, because everything has to be documented and then get back to what you’re doing. You’re not ever going to be able to get anything done. So. So you have to sort of compartmentalize this to be able to say, I’m going to return calls, uh, before this time on this day and after this time on next day, within, uh, a period of time, that kind of thing. You know what I mean? So great lawyers are responsive, but not necessarily instantaneously. They’ve got to have a reasonable period of time within which to prepare to talk to you and to talk to you and to document what was said.
Carson Grace Toomer: Okay, so we’ve talked about reviews, having good reviews and, you know, somebody’s, you know, ability to communicate and how that’s kind of a balance. If you could. Can you give me like maybe five or six words that kind of embodies that, that you would say are somebody’s top priorities when they should, you know, seek an injury attorney?
Clark: Sure. Yeah. I think people should look for resources as a firm, have the resources to do the things that they need to do to tell your story effectively. Reviews. What are the, uh, what do other clients and other lawyers say about this firm and whether they do a good job for people and care about their clients? Accessibility. Are they available to speak to you? Um, in the beginning and throughout the process, which also is related to communication, which would be the other thing they effectively communicate with you about, uh, what they need from you and what you need from them, uh, and transparency. Are they, uh, ah. Are you, uh, made aware of, uh, the process and what goes into it and what’s being done and why? Those are the keys that I would think, uh, would be important to somebody in determining whether this was the right firm for them.
Carson Grace Toomer: Well, thank you, Mr. Speaks.
Clark: You’re welcome.
Carson Grace Toomer: Um, thank you for listening to the Personal Injury Podcast.
Clark: Thanks for joining us. Don’t forget to subscribe and follow us to stay up to date with our weekly episodes. We’ll see you next time.
