If you’ve been seriously injured in an accident, chances are you’ve already seen them:
Many accident victims assume that the firms advertising the most must also provide the best legal representation. It’s an understandable assumption. After all, successful advertising creates familiarity, and familiarity often creates trust.
But here’s the truth: Advertising and legal representation are two completely different things.
A television commercial may convince you to make the call. It tells you almost nothing about what happens after you become a client.
In fact, if a law firm is spending millions on marketing, then they usually must resolve a high volume of cases, and do so quickly, to remain profitable, prioritizing fast turnarounds instead of maximum settlement values.
At Gallagher & Hagopian, we believe accident victims deserve to understand how different personal injury law firms actually operate before deciding who should represent them.
The following are realities about the personal injury industry that many consumers never hear discussed publicly.
Every personal injury law firm is different. Some intentionally limit the number of cases they accept so attorneys can remain closely involved throughout the representation.
Others are built around handling a very high volume of cases using larger teams of less experienced attorneys without meaningful trial experience, case managers, legal assistants, and support staff. Neither model is inherently right or wrong.
But the model you hire can influence nearly every aspect of your experience, including:
Those differences are rarely discussed in television commercials.
Many accident victims assume that when they hire a law firm, they will regularly work with the attorney whose name appears in the firm’s advertisements.
Sometimes that’s true. Sometimes it isn’t.
Every successful personal injury firm—including ours—relies on talented case managers and legal assistants. They are indispensable. They coordinate medical records, communicate with providers, schedule appointments, and help keep cases moving.
But they are not lawyers. They don’t determine legal strategy, evaluate settlement offers, take depositions, or prepare cases for trial.
Those responsibilities belong to attorneys.
At Gallagher & Hagopian, we believe those responsibilities should remain with experienced trial lawyers.
Our attorneys meet with clients face-to-face, develop litigation strategy, personally evaluate settlement offers, prepare lawsuits when necessary, and remain actively involved throughout the life of the case.
This may be the most important section of this article. Let’s put advertising aside for a moment and simply look at the numbers. Imagine an attorney handling 400 active personal injury cases.
That type of caseload is not unheard of in high-volume practices.
Now think about everything a serious injury case may require:
Now consider this.
There are approximately 250 working days in a year.
If one attorney is responsible for 400 active cases, that equals approximately 1.6 active clients for every working day of the year.
Or look at it another way.
Suppose an attorney works 50 hours every week.
That equals approximately 2,500 working hours each year.
Divide those hours across 400 active cases.
The result is approximately:
6.25 total attorney hours per case—for the entire year.
Not every month.
The entire year.
Now remember…
Those same 2,500 hours must also include:
Now, to be fair, this is a simplified illustration.
Every law firm is structured differently. Not every case requires the same amount of attorney time. Much important work is appropriately performed by associates, paralegals, and case managers.
The point isn’t that every lawyer with a large caseload provides poor representation. The point is much simpler: attorney time is finite.
No lawyer—regardless of experience—can create more hours in the day. When a firm signs an exceptionally large number of clients, the amount of attorney time available for each individual case inevitably becomes an important management decision.
Insurance adjusters are highly aware of which firms spend millions on advertising and operate on a high-volume basis. Because they know which firms are short on time and would rather avoid going to trial, insurance companies often deliberately issue lower settlement offers to these firms, knowing the lawyer is incentivized to accept a discount.
Insurance companies also know which firms are willing, competent, experienced, and have the resources to take a case all the way through a jury trial. That is why we’ve intentionally chosen this approach. We believe serious injury cases deserve meaningful attorney attention and involvement—not just efficient processing. We are a boutique trial firm with immense trial experience and proven results who prepares every single case as if it is going to a jury trial. We then use our experience, track record, and trial preparation to earn higher settlement offers and recoveries, maximize the compensation for each client, and take a case to trial when necessary.
We’ve also chosen to build a practice without needing to spend millions on advertising in order to retain new clients. The majority of our clients are referred to us from our prior clients, other lawyers, and other professionals in the community who know our reputation. This benefits our clients immensely. Since we don’t need to spend millions on advertising in order to sign new clients, we are able to allocate those funds towards better serving our clients and maximizing their recoveries.
Most personal injury cases settle. Many never go to trial. That doesn’t mean litigation experience isn’t important. In many cases, litigation changes everything.
Once a lawsuit is filed, attorneys gain powerful tools that simply don’t exist during pre-suit negotiations. Those tools include:
Sometimes those tools uncover evidence that wasn’t previously available. Sometimes they expose weaknesses in the defense. Sometimes they clarify disputed facts. Often, they increase the value of a claim.
Every case is different, and no attorney can guarantee that filing suit will result in a higher recovery.
But two things are certain…
An experienced trial attorney who is genuinely prepared to litigate:
Here’s something many accident victims never consider: the most expensive phase of an injury case often begins after the lawsuit is filed.
A law firm may spend tens of thousands of dollars before ever recovering a single dollar in attorney’s fees.
Those expenses may include:
In catastrophic injury cases, litigation expenses can easily exceed tens of thousands of dollars, and sometimes much more. Preparing a serious case for trial is a substantial commitment.
At Gallagher & Hagopian, we prepare every case as though it may ultimately be presented to a jury.
Our attorneys each have at least 20 years of experience practicing personal injury law, and together they have led more than 150 jury trials to verdict.
That experience shapes how we prepare every case from the very beginning, and it allows our firm to produce better results for our clients.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with advertising. Television commercials help accident victims know legal help is available. Billboards create name recognition. Digital advertising introduces law firms to new clients every day. Advertising serves an important purpose. But once you become a client… the advertising is over.
From that point forward, the things that matter are very different:
Those are the things no television commercial can show you.
At Gallagher & Hagopian, we’ve built our practice around a simple philosophy.
Every client deserves:
Our attorneys have each devoted more than two decades to representing injury victims.
Together, they have led more than 150 jury trials to verdict.
Our attorneys intentionally remain personally involved in the cases we accept because we believe clients deserve more than efficient case processing. They deserve experienced legal judgment, attention to their cases, and maximum compensation for their injuries.
Choosing a personal injury lawyer isn’t really about advertising. It’s about deciding who you trust to protect your future.
The lawyer you hire should have the time, experience, preparation, and commitment to stand with you from the day you hire them until your case is resolved—whether that happens through settlement or in a courtroom.
At Gallagher & Hagopian, that’s the commitment we make to every client.
If you or someone you love has been seriously injured because of someone else’s negligence, we’d be honored to discuss your case, answer your questions, and explain your legal options.
Contact Gallagher & Hagopian today for a free consultation.
