California Personal Injury Attorney

Lower fees. Many professional law firms will charge from a third to forty percent of the amount collected if your case settles, and more if the case goes to trial. Furthermore, because most of the actual costs to litigate your case come out of the final settlement amount, firms are not razor focused on ensuring these costs are not excessive. Our approach is to just charge . Should the case settle quickly either before or after the lawsuit is filed, there will be an even lower fee. Furthermore, before large costs are incurred on your case, the attorney will discuss their reasonableness and necessity.

Extensive Experience in Personal Injury Law. John has assisted in the resolution of dozens and dozens of personal injury lawsuits of various types. In so doing, he understands what makes each case unique and the best strategy for resolution. He also has a hard-one sense of what cases may settle for before and after a lawsuit is filed and what a jury may award at a trial.

A Long History in the Local Community. Knowledge about the social, political, geographic, and economic history of the community where an injury occurred is very important. As examples, if a client is injured on a certain part of a highway, that highway may have a history of accidents for common reasons. Or a city may have just recently passed an ordinance that prohibits the same activity that injured the client. John is a Central Coast native and has lived in California his entire life. He was born in San Diego, before moving to San Luis Obispo in 1985 where he also went to high school. He also lived in Santa Barbara, California for several years.

Deep knowledge of medical injuries. Much of a personal injury claim involves understanding the client’s injuries and how best to treat them. John’s first job was working in his father’s medical office while still in grade school. Most of his family is in the medical profession. Over the years, he has developed a better and better understanding of injuries that are common in accidents, notably orthopedic injuries, spine injuries, traumatic brain injuries, and post-traumatic stress.

Deep knowledge of design and manufacturing defects. When a client is injured by a defective product, it is of key importance to understand what specifically went wrong with the device. Often it is not just some defect, but also a failure to warn the rider that something might happen if the product is operating in a certain way. John has substantial knowledge with electrical, mechanical and software engineering through his work experiences before becoming a lawyer, including employment at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the Northrop Grumman corporation. He has formally studied patent law and worked with dozens of engineers over his career.

Communication and client support. After an accident, your whole life has been disrupted. You are scared about what the future holds, can’t do things you used to do, have to spend countless hours on treatment, and don’t understand the legal process. At the Carlson Law Firm, the client-attorney relationship is a top priority. There is frequent attorney-client communication to help understand the client’s injuries, offer advice on what treatment may be needed, describe how the case may resolve, explain legal options, and give updates on case resolution.

Attorney Engagement in All Aspects of the Litigation. There are several critical steps that often need to be completed to successfully resolve a personally injury case – a client’s injuries need to be documented, the client must be evaluated by medical professionals, correspondence needs to be prepared, a client’s deposition must be taken, etc. Often a law firm will hire a third-party to assist in some of these steps or ask a legal assistant to do some of them. This not only means the attorney is not personally fully engaged but also that the client must pay from their settlement funds for the services of the third party. At the Carlson Law Firm, John is fully engaged in all steps of litigation process to ensure the best representation possible and eliminate excess expenses.

Home Offices in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara, California.  Part of developing a meaningful client relationship is meeting the client in-person. With the advent of the Internet, it is very common for a client to hire a law firm and then discover later that they are not actually located where they live. This makes it hard to ever meet your attorney.  The Carlson Law Firm has a physical presence in downtown San Luis Obispo and in Montecito, California just a few miles east of downtown Santa Barbara.