Los Angeles is filled with lawyers claiming to be experts in handling motorcycle accidents. Many claim to have special empathy because they too are riders. Some claim to have handled tens of thousands of cases. Some attorneys depict themselves on a motorcycle to grab the injured motorcyclist's interest. In my opinion, these are cheap tricks to get a client.
If you, a loved one or a friend has been injured in a motorcycle accident, you or your loved one or friend need a competent lawyer. There are probably numerous components to being a competent lawyer but none of them have anything to do with being a motorcycle rider, sitting on a motorcycle or any such nonsense. Competence has to do with knowledge and skill in the law of personal injury law.
Competence includes knowing which experts to hire, how to reconstruct an accident, how to prepare pleadings, handle litigation discovery and law motion matters before the case goes to trial. Competence has to do with being able to present a case to a jury or a judge, knowing the rules of evidence that govern a trial, and knowing how to make a record in the event an appeal is taken by either side.
Don't be misled. Hire a competent attorney to handle your motorcycle accident case or help your loved one or friend hire a competent attorney. Meet with more than one attorney. Interview the attorneys. Concentrate on the attorney's legal experience and competence, not on gimmicks that are being offered to get you to sign up. Make sure the attorney will personally handle the case, keep you informed, and will be willing to fight and even go to trial or handle an appeal if necessary. No one would pick a surgeon based on whether or not the surgeon rode a motorcycle or not. And, no one should choose a personal injury attorney based on whether or not the attorney rides a motorcycle.
By the way, I am licensed by California to ride motorcycles and did as a young man and then again much later in life. Personally I stopped riding because my son-in-law was in a horrific motorcycle accident and suffered pervasive brain injury even though he wore one of the best helmets on the market. The doctors didn't expect him to survive Intensive Care; but if he did, they said he would be in a permanent vegetative state. Fortunately for him and our family, the doctors were wrong. He is making a full recovery which we anticipate will take about 5 years.
Whether the motorcycle accident/personal injury attorney rides a motorcycle or not, is irrelevant to his competency as a lawyer. Use good judgment and sound criteria when you retain your motorcycle accident attorney.
