Most prospective clients want to hear they have a great case and it's worth a lot of money. It's usually difficult to tell if there's a legally and economically viable case without first investigating the facts and potential evidence.

During the first interview, a responsible lawyer must talk candidly to the injured person and family members. No one can truly tell if you have a case without first conducting a thorough investigation and legal analysis. Any lawyer who tells you otherwise is simply telling you what you want to hear — probably to get you to sign a fee agreement.

A competent lawyer should offer to investigate all available facts, evaluate whether the facts support a viable case, and give you their professional opinion. It isn't necessary to sign a fee agreement in order for this to occur, although you would need to sign authorizations to obtain medical records and possibly other kinds of records.

Once the lawyer has investigated the facts, the correct legal opinion may reveal you don't have a case; or, even if you do, it's simply not economically feasible for the lawyer to handle it (these are code words meaning the cost of developing the case may be too high relative to the potential recovery, such as when a medical malpractice case might have a potential recovery of $100,000 but costs that much to develop). The length of time the evaluation process takes will vary with the type of case; the number of potential witnesses to be located and interviewed; the amount of records that must be ordered, received, and evaluated; and the legal research that must be conducted.

If we decline your case, we're willing to provide you with all of our work product, including the records, so you can have other lawyers of your choosing review our work and form their own opinions. In other words, there is no disadvantage for having us review your potential claim. If another lawyer accepts your case we only expect to be reimbursed, by that lawyer, for our out-of-pocket expenses.

The two most important questions that must be answered to determine whether or not you have a viable case are: (1) whether the potential defendant is at fault due to an illegal or wrong act and (2) what are the legal consequences or damages caused by the illegal or wrong act? Taking these questions in reverse order, it's generally obvious when someone's been seriously injured. You already know this; otherwise you wouldn't be looking for a lawyer. The first question concerning fault is more difficult, and can have many legal facets. Just a few of the potential issues pertaining to fault include: determining who can be held legally responsible for your damages; which state's laws apply; what is the statute of limitations applicable to your claim; can you actually collect on a judgment against the potential defendant; and, must any governmental bodies be properly served with time-sensitive notices?

Let's suppose you're involved in what appears to be a simple car wreck, such as a rear-ender. Sounds like a good case with obvious fault, right? Not necessarily. Is there an emergency defense? Was anyone drinking or on drugs? Was the injured party wearing a seat belt? Did the injured person have any preexisting injuries? Is there a possible loss of consortium action for the injured person's spouse? Even if the matter was investigated by the police, were all the potential witnesses interviewed, and will they be available later if the matter goes to court? Are there elderly witnesses or witnesses who may relocate in the future so that their testimony needs to be preserved? Our office believes facts are crucial — perhaps even more important than the lawyer's talents — despite impressions of dramatic cross-examinations and blazing closing arguments promoted by the media.

Our practice is limited to representing seriously injured persons. We don't represent insurance companies, in fact, we sue them. Not every lawyer does plaintiffs' personal injury work. It's a narrow area of the law. We can say we're willing to evaluate your case and offer you our professional opinions on the merit and value of your potential case. Furthermore, we're willing to pay the necessary expense involved in this essential work-up. If we decline your case, you won't owe us anything.

We start by asking, "What's the verdict range if a jury finds fault?" A separate, but related question is, "If we do win, where's the money going to come from to pay the verdict?" Is there a threat of bankruptcy? What insurance policies may apply? For example, one in eight Oregon drivers is uninsured, and many have only the minimum insurance protection ($25,000) the law requires. Does the "family purpose doctrine" apply and preclude recovery from an insurance company?

So, what happens when you're seriously injured and the defendant is either uninsured or has the minimum insurance policy limits? Here's where we may look for potential third-party liability based on whether additional defendants or a defective product may have contributed to your injuries, or your own insurance policy's "under-insurance protection" to help adequately compensate you. Bear in mind, the merits and value of a case can change as additional evidence is discovered.

This really combines two separate questions. In most Oregon counties you can get a trial date within one year of filing a lawsuit. Appeals can significantly add to the length of time it takes to finally resolve a case. Fortunately, appeals don't happen very often. Approximately 2% of the cases that go to trial are appealed.

Alternative dispute resolution is the good news here, which in most cases means mediation. We mediate all our cases and settle more than 80% of the cases we accept without the necessity of trial. I suggest you read our article on "Mediation From a Plaintiff's Perspective" at www.thebartonlawfirm.com/teaching.cfm for additional information on the mediation process.

We charge a contingency fee that's standard in the profession. The sliding contingency fee percentage depends upon the stage of litigation at which the case resolves. If we accept your case we'll advance all costs necessary to make sure your case is properly prepared to be mediated and then tried before a jury if necessary. This begins with us retaining the best experts possible.

Most people don't appreciate how difficult it is to find medical and industry experts to testify in court when involved in claims against doctors, hospitals and society's major institutions. Doctors who testify against the "brotherhood" will never receive any future referrals from their peers and are socially "black-balled" from their various professional associations. Likewise for other professionals. We strive to locate the best experts for your case no matter where they live or how much they charge.

The underlying question of why do Bill and Kevin live and practice in Newport goes back a long way. Bill graduated in a class of 15 students from Alsea High School. Alsea is a small logging town of 200 people in the coast range between Philomath and Waldport. When you look at these modest beginnings, Newport seems pretty big!

In the 1980's Bill had a national plaintiffs' practice requiring him to travel the country and practically live out of airports. During that time he tried cases in Hawaii, Nevada, and West Virginia and handled cases in Louisiana and Florida. In 1983 he served as president of the Western Trial Lawyers Association which included the thirteen western states. After much reflection and soul searching, the decision was made to limit our practice both geographically and in the number of cases we accept.

Both Kevin and Bill have condominiums in Portland and are in Portland or the Willamette Valley on a weekly basis to meet clients and witnesses or appear in court. Even though most of our cases are filed in Portland or the federal courts, our primary office remains in Newport.

Occasionally we'll still go out of state, but we now tend to limit our practice to a few Oregon cases that are tried all over the state. No matter where the lawsuit is filed or the client lives, today's technology allows us to effectively represent and maintain close contact with our clients from our Newport office.

Our full-time investigator also travels nationwide, if needed, to assure all the evidence is quickly identified and evaluated. We have a retired surgeon, Dr. Richard Beemer, on staff to review medical questions with the assistance of an experienced registered nurse.

Yellow page ads, websites, and other advertising claims placed by many personal injury law firms emphasize catastrophic injuries and tout experience in handling these sorts of cases. You need to look past the advertisements to make an informed decision. You want an experienced jury trial lawyer with a successful track-record in your kind of case. Ask how many similar cases the lawyer has actually tried and the results of those trials.

Additionally, there are peer reviewed sources available on the internet you can examine to determine how the lawyer is regarded by other lawyers. Some sites you may want to review are: The Best Lawyers In America (limited to the top 5%) at www.bestlawyers.com; The American College of Trial Lawyers (limited to the top 1%) at www.actl.com; The American Board of Trial Advocates (limited to the top 1%) at www.abota.com; and Super Lawyers (top 5%, top 50 lawyers, and top 10 lawyers in Oregon) at www.superlawyers.com. All of the above are glimpses into the professional standing various lawyers have accrued within the legal community as determined by their fellow attorneys.

Attorney websites can be helpful as you can glean information about a firm's prior cases and professional standing. Once you have a "short list" of potential lawyers, call the lawyers and ask for an interview. It's important that you feel you can talk to your lawyer. Do you like them and are you comfortable with them? How does your family feel? Does the lawyer speak in terms you can understand? You may also wish to consult various professional writings for insight into the firm's citizenship and philosophy. For instance, our firm's philosophy is captured in the article "Personal Authenticity" found on our website at www.thebartonlawfirm.com/teaching.cfm.