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What to Look for When Choosing a West Virginia Lemon Law Attorney

On Behalf of | Nov 21, 2016 | Lemon Law |

With all the advertising on the internet, it can be somewhat confusing to decide which attorney to hire for your West Virginia Lemon Law case. Some firms and attorneys are good and some are not. Here are some pointers on how to make sure that the attorney you hire for your Lemon Law case in West Virginia has the skills to fight for your rights throughout the entire legal process.

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The most important factor in picking your West Virginia Lemon Law attorney is obviously the attorney who is going to be handling your case.  You should not hire a law firm before speaking with the attorney who will be handling your case, and that attorney must be admitted to practice law in West Virginia.  If they are not, hang up the phone and call someone else.

It is perfectly fine if you do not speak with an attorney when you first contact the firm.  While I take most of my own calls, it is reasonable for a firm to have a non-lawyer take the initial calls and gather your information and documents.  You should never agree to have a firm represent you, however, until you have spoken with the attorney who is going to be handling your case.

This seems like a fairly obvious point, but many, many law firms advertising for West Virginia Lemon Law play a shell game.  Find the West Virginia attorney on the firm website.  If you can’t find information on the specific attorneys or there is no attorney admitted in West Virginia listed on the website, move on to another law firm. 

Once you have found an attorney listed who is admitted to practice in West Virginia, see if they are listed as Of Counsel.  Of Counsel is not someone who works at the firm and, in most cases, does not specialize in Lemon Law.  The firm has to pay that Of Counsel attorney each time they have contact with your case or you talk to them, so the law firm will not have this person working on your case or talking to you until well after the case is in suit.  The person who will be doing most of the work on your case will not be a West Virginia attorney and probably will not be an attorney at all, which is a very bad idea.  That is why it is critical that you insist that you speak with the attorney who will be handling your Lemon Law case before you sign up with the firm.  If the firm won’t let you speak with that attorney, if that attorney is not admitted in West Virginia, or if they are admitted in West Virginia but don’t specialize in Lemon Law, do not sign up with that firm. 

Find out where your attorney has offices.  My firm has an office in Morgantown,  but it is not necessarily a bad choice if you happen to choose an attorney who doesn’t have a physical office in West Virginia.  Because West Virginia is fairly spread out, an office in one part of West Virginia can still be very far from another part of the state.  My clients in Beckley or Huntington are never going to go to my Morgantown office.  I will meet them and file their cases in counties close to them.  If your attorney does not have an office in West Virginia, they should have a physical office in one of the states bordering West Virginia within four or five hours’ driving distance of West Virginia.  If not, then your attorney is not going to want to go to court in your case and will instead try to make you settle for less than what your case is worth.

Here at the Roseman Law Firm, we passionately fight for your rights. Attorney Christina Gill Roseman is licensed in West Virginia and has a strong track record of winning court cases against large car manufacturers, including Hyundai, Kia, GM, Chrysler and others. If you have a Lemon Law case, consider a free consultation with Roseman Law Firm, where you will speak directly to attorney Christina Gill Roseman before your case is accepted.

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