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5 Qualities Your Jones Act Maritime Lawyer Must Have

1. Must Focus On Jones Act And Maritime Injury Cases: When you need to see a doctor, you want to see a doctor that specializes in the type of injury that you have suffered. In the same way you should hire a maritime lawyer who focuses his practice on handling Jones Act and maritime injury claims. Many “general practice” lawyers in your area are very nice and know a little bit about lots of different laws. Unfortunately these lawyers typically are not experienced enough with complicated Jones Act and maritime laws to truly handle a maritime injury claim. If you need to have open heart surgery you want to have a heart surgeon who specializes in that type of surgery. If you need to have knee surgery, you will want a doctor that specializes in knee surgeries. In the same way when you have a serious maritime injury claim, you should find a good maritime lawyer who focuses his practice on handling maritime injury cases.

2. Must Have Extensive Courtroom Experience: It is amazing how many attorneys never actually go to court to argue motions or try cases before judges and juries. Maritime lawsuits are defended by the insurance companies and company lawyers. These company lawyers will fight every issue in your maritime case and this often involves arguing motions before the court. Very often Jones Act and maritime cases are prepared all the way up until the point of trial at which time a fair settlement can finally be reached. If not, your case will need to be presented to a jury. Your maritime injury lawyer will most likely spend as much time in court on your case as he will working on the case outside of court. It is very important that your attorney have extensive courtroom experience so that he can successfully handle your case.

3. Must Have Significant Financial Resources (Money!): Your maritime injury claim will be expensive to successfully present to a judge or jury. Typically your claim will involve loss of past and future wages and fringe benefits. An economic expert is necessary to testify regarding this issue at trial. Your case may require a liability expert to show what the company did wrong which caused your injury. These experts require payment up front and your maritime attorney will be responsible for hiring and funding these experts until your case can settle. For every dollar that the company spends in an effort to defend your claim, your attorney must be prepared to finance your case in a similar way.

4. Must Have Significant Office Resources: Your maritime injury claim will require office resources and skills as well as financial resources. In order to successfully prove your case hours and hours of effort and work will be spent in accumulating the necessary documents and obtaining the necessary testimony to prove your case at trial. This work includes getting all of your medical and work records, arranging and paying for medical treatment so that you can prove your injury, hiring and working with experts in regard to your damages as well as the fault of the company, scheduling and taking depositions from key witnesses, and organizing all of these documents and information so that they can be successfully presented at court. Your maritime attorney needs to have an office staff that is experienced and able to prepare your case.

5. Must Be Ready To Fully Prepare Your Case: This may be one of the most important requirements of your maritime injury attorney. Very often successful attorneys will have significant financial resources and office staff and they even have experience handling maritime claims. However, many of these attorneys will accept lots of cases but truly pursue only a few of these cases. In other words, they may accept your claim and if they eventually determine that they do not view your case as a “high dollar case”, they may limit their work on your case. Your attorney must be ready to fully prepare your case for trial. When you hire your attorney you should ask if he is truly ready and able to fully prepare your case in order to obtain a good settlement or trial result.

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