Here are the Questions we think you should ask when interviewing potential lawyers to represent you or your loved ones:

1. How many cases similar to mine have you had prior to mine?
2. How many cases similar to mine have you tried before a jury to verdict?
3. How many cases have you tried to verdict and won?
4. How many cases have you settled at the first offer without putting up much of a fight?
5. Who will be handling my case?
6. Can I reach you when I have a question?
7. How long will it take you to respond to my phone calls?
8. Will I be able to contact you by phone, email, and text?
9. Can I speak with other clients you have represented in the past on similar cases as mine?
10. Will you fight for me?

These are the top ten questions we would ask if we were hiring an attorney. These are the questions we like to be asked.

We specialize for the same reason your doctor does. You don’t want to go to an orthopedic doctor who specializes in knee surgery for your kidney replacement surgery. Same thing goes for your attorney. Don’t survive the crash just to get killed in your settlement, at mediation or before a jury of your peers. You deserve an attorney who focuses their work on you and your type of injury and claim.

Often attorneys advertise for personal injury cases because they think they are easy and they can make a lot of money. Look at the advertisements out there. Family law lawyers are also advertising for personal injury. These are not the same areas of law and a person who spends the majority of their time representing clients in family court are not in our opinion as prepared to take your case into a civil court room where stricter laws of evidence apply.

Criminal law attorneys often advertise for personal injury law too. Ask, how many times have you filed a civil law suit? How many civil cases have you tried? Why? If an attorney is specialized in criminal law it does not mean they have a clue about civil law. This is significant this difference between an attorney who primarily represents clients in criminal court and those of us who do civil personal injury law. The bodies of law are substantially different. The strategies vary considerably. Knowing how to strategize a case on behalf of your client so that you can get the best settlement or verdict before a jury of their peers is like apples and oranges when considering how to get the best deal for your criminal client or try that case before a jury of the criminally accused peers.

Why do attorneys focus their practice or specialize?

The law is multifaceted. There are hundreds of thousands of statutes and case law to know and understand. Knowing how to navigate the complexity of a civil case is hugely different from a criminal case. The same laws do not apply. The way society views certain civil claims is different. The way society views various crimes is different.

Remember:
You’ve Got a Bike? We’ve Got Your Back. You have an injury claim? We will kick their ass!

We meet attorneys often who say they do what we do. Then we start discussing cases and we learn quickly, they have no clue what we do.

We are your Austin Bike and Motorcycle Crash Attorneys. We try cases when the defendant does not come up with the right number for settlement because we refuse to settle our clients cases for less than the full amount. Very few cases actually go to trial but you have to know you have a skilled trial attorney for when the defendant is trying to cut you short of what you deserve.

We can’t give you back your body pre-injury or your mind without the scars from the impact. The only thing we can do is seek to compensate you financially to pay off the overwhelming past and future medical costs of being injured, your wage loss, and provide you compensation for your past and future pain and suffering. We also believe justice serves the person who injured you and let’s them feel the relief of their “debt” being paid to the one they harmed.

The post How to Choose An Attorney After You Have Been Injured? appeared first on Austin Personal Injury Attorneys for Bike and Motorcycle Accident Victims.

During the ride please respect all the safety rules of the road. Helmets and lights shall be used. The ride is silent, hand gestures for signaling. Call out only in emergency to alert other riders of potential dangers.

There will be a dedication period. AT that time you can speak of someone you would like to recognize or remember. Please arrive at 6:30 PM and meet up with a ride organizer to make sure you are listed to speak at the dedication period of the Ride of Silence.

You will see other riders with black arm bands-this signifies memory of a loved one who was killed. Red arm bands indicate someone injured while riding their bike. Please wear bands or pin photos to your jersey or shirt or attach a sign to your bike. Thank you for riding and remembering. The Shefman Law Group remembers Cody Johnson killed on November 3, 2012; Brian Lindquist who was hit and mentally incapacitated on October 12, 2012; and Robert “Chops” Ramirez killed September 23, 2012.

The ride map can be viewed on Bikely.com at http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/2010-Ride-of-Silence-in-Austin-Texas

The post Austin Ride of Silence 2013 Pfluger Bike and Ped Bridge at 6:30 PM appeared first on Austin Personal Injury Attorneys for Bike and Motorcycle Accident Victims.

1. Get the help you need. At the crash site, make sure 911 is called and the police respond. Austin is lucky to have a positive police chief who agrees cyclists and bikers have a right to share the road. Make sure police respond. Show the police the respect they deserve and help them help you.
2. Get the medical attention you need. Take that ambulance to the hospital and get evaluated. When hit by a ton or more of car or truck you often have so much adrenaline running through your system you have no idea the extent of your injuries.
3. Get witness and as much information at the crash site as possible. Use our phone app (cyclistlaw crash app) or just turn on your phone video camera if you have one and start recording everything from the vehicles involved, the witnesses, their information, the insurance information of the person who hit you, record the license plate, make, model of the vehicle, the street signs, any road conditions that may be relevant, everything…point and shoot!
4. Do not speak to any insurance company representatives until you have spoken to a bike crash attorney from cyclistlaw and/or motorcycle crash attorney.
5. Keep the clothing you were wearing at the time of the crash including your helmet or the jacket they cut off of you in the ER. This is evidence.
6. Keep a journal of the things you are having difficulty with. If you were head injured but are functioning write down the troubles you are experiencing.
7. Call Cyclistlaw.com and speak to an attorney who can help you.

The post You Have Been In a Bike Crash in Austin. Now What? appeared first on Austin Personal Injury Attorneys for Bike and Motorcycle Accident Victims.

Crash App Article with Attorney Lenore Shefman

The post Moveability Austin Article for Bike Month Featuring our Crash App appeared first on Austin Personal Injury Attorneys for Bike and Motorcycle Accident Victims.

March of Sorrow Speakers, House Rep. Bill Callegari, Attorney Lenore Shefman for Brian Lindquist’s mom Susan Buehler, Friend of Cody Johnson-Eric Snow

The post March of Sorrow Remembering Lives Lost to DWI appeared first on Austin Personal Injury Attorneys for Bike and Motorcycle Accident Victims.

For those seeking relief from the West Fertilizing Plant Explosion in and around Waco, Texas please refer to this article in the Waco Tribune:
Fertilizer Plant Explosion Relief Links
If you can please give blood at Scott and White or your local blood bank.
If you need further assistance please call your local blood bank. Those seeking legal advice relating to injuries and property loss resulting from this fertilizer plant explosion please call our attorneys.

The post Waco Fertilizer Plant Explosion- Unknown Death Toll and Injuries too Many to Count appeared first on Austin Personal Injury Attorneys for Bike and Motorcycle Accident Victims.

Some say Sgt. Kerlick’s death is why our district attorney Rosemary Lehmberg was found intoxicated driving in the bike lane following services remembering Sgt. Kerlick. Some have called this a learning moment, while others have called for the immediate resignation of our cities top law enforcement officer.

If Rosemary Lehmberg resigns she will be replaced. Replacements are always of concern when there is no democratic process behind the replacement, only an appointment.

The fact is Austin has been struggling with recent reports of being in the top 5 drinking cities in the nation. Austin has had too many alcohol related deaths on our roadways. So now, what do we do when our district attorney loses personal integrity, and is caught in the act of drinking and driving when so many are still freshly scared by wounds inflicted by those who do not responsibly monitor their intake and take to the road behind the wheel knowing their act could result in the absolute ruining of others lives? Can we as a city forgive her and trust the job of the district attorney is being done responsibly following such a horrible judgment call?

I invite everyone to weigh in and have this conversation with those you love and care about. I also task everyone with trying to have this same conversation with someone you do not agree with, it may not change who our DA is but it might help us all get to where we need to be, mindful of the devastating and lasting effects of drinking and driving.

The post Austin District Attorney’s DWI and the Recent Death of Sgt. Lorraine Kerlick in a Motorcycle Collision appeared first on Austin Personal Injury Attorneys for Bike and Motorcycle Accident Victims.

The post Circuit of the Americas, Austin, Texas appeared first on Austin Personal Injury Attorneys for Bike and Motorcycle Accident Victims.

The post Houston Bike Share Program- Maybe Fattest City No More appeared first on Austin Personal Injury Attorneys for Bike and Motorcycle Accident Victims.

Senate Bill 275 enhances prior punishments and ups the anti. If a driver flees the scene of a crash s/he will face up to 20 years in prison, a $10,000 fine in what is charged as a second degree felony.

The case where a Capitol Hill aide, Nestande, hit, and fled the scene leaving Courtney Griffin in the road without medical assistance where she ultimately died has raised great attention from lawmakers such that this pass flew through the Senate. Now, onward to the House.

KVUE wrote this article
and the Statesman’s coverage of the same is here

The post Kirk Watson’s Bill SB 275 just passed the Senate. Onward through the House appeared first on Austin Personal Injury Attorneys for Bike and Motorcycle Accident Victims.