Illinois Lawyer Referrals and Legal Guidance

What it means to be lead plaintiff in a class action

May 20, 2013

Class actions are large cases with many plaintiffs. The court will appoint a lead plaintiff, also called the named plaintiff, to represent the entire group. It would be unrealistic and too time consuming for everyone in the class to present their case to the court. If you are considering a class action lawsuit or want to know if you should be lead plaintiff, here are some details about what it entails.

What a lead plaintiff does:

• - Finds and hires an attorney
• - Files the lawsuit (with the help of their attorney)
• - Participates in discovery, which is the investigative part of the case
• - Attends court dates, including hearings and trial
• - May testify in court
• - Consults on settlement
• - May be able to get a larger portion of the recovery, based on the extra effort, if the court agrees

What a lead plaintiff does not do:

• - Does not pay attorney fees
• - Does not pay the costs or fees associated with filing lawsuit or pursuing the case

Being a lead plaintiff means being in the spotlight and being involved in the case as it progresses. However, it does not cost you anything, and you are required to have an attorney, who will do the work on the case. Your attorney is paid at the end out of what the court awards or what you agree to in settlement.

The judge has to make the call as to whether the lead plaintiff is a good representative of the entire class. Others in the class don’t get to be heard, so your case needs to be strong and similar enough to the cases of the others.

If you are not lead plaintiff, you don’t have to do much beyond deciding whether you want to be part of the class. Your individual case won’t necessarily be heard. As a participant in a class action, you give up your right to file your own lawsuit. If you want to bring your own case, talk to an attorney about opting out of the class action. This will give you the ability to take legal action on your own later on.

Five signs that you may have hired the wrong Illinois attorney

May 19, 2013

Here are some signs that the lawyer you hired may not be the best one to handle your case.

5. It’s been a week without a callback. There is no reason that a good lawyer can’t also be good at customer service. Returning phone calls isn’t hard, and it’s not too much to expect. If you never hear back from your attorney in a reasonable amount of time, your case might not be a priority for them.
6. They’re fresh out of law school. You should look for someone with more experience if you want the best chance at success in your case. It’s not that these new lawyers aren’t smart or that they won’t work hard for you, but they might not handle your case as efficiently and they might not know the best strategy if they’re new to the practice of law.
7. Your attorney keeps changing. If a law firm is handling your case, and it seems like every time you call there’s someone new handling it, that can be a bad sign. It could mean that lawyers keep leaving the firm (so it’s probably not a great place to work), or that your case isn’t a priority. This kind of inconsistency is bad customer service and it can potentially hurt your case.
8. They offer to handle all your legal problems. One of the things we focus on when recommending an attorney is their specific experience. For example, we don’t believe a divorce attorney is the best person to handle your traffic ticket. They’ll probably do fine, but we think you’d do better with someone who handles traffic cases, and appears in traffic court, day in and day out. So if your attorney is offering to handle multiple issues that are unrelated, it might be a sign that they aren’t as experienced as you need them to be.
9. They work out of their house. This is allowed, but it’s not ideal. An attorney who works out of their home, especially if they have their own firm, misses out on the advantages of working in an office along with other lawyers. It’s not always the case, but in our experience, the attorneys who have a lot of success don’t fit this profile.

If it becomes clear that you hired the wrong attorney, you are allowed to switch. We don’t recommend switching lawyers for a minor reason, but if the success of your case depends on it, then it’s probably a good idea.

Three random Illinois legal tips

May 17, 2013

We get calls about everything from pet’s rights to corporate whistle blowing. Some calls, however, are more common. Here are three random legal tips that might come in handy for you (or your friends and family).

1. Setting up powers of attorney is fairly simple for most people, and you can do it for free. This is one of the rare instances where we recommend (1) using an online form and (2) handling a legal document on your own. The reason is that a power of attorney isn’t that complicated, and it’s important to have so we want to encourage you to get it done, even if that means doing it yourself. You can find forms for the two types of power of attorney (healthcare and property) here.
2. It’s never too late to collect past due child support, if you have a court order. If you don’t have an order from a judge that orders the other parent to make payments, then get one. But if you do, there is no deadline. You can always collect. Talk to an attorney if you need help getting started. They can help you locate the other parent, find out about income they might be hiding, and file the court documents to get them child support you are owed.
3. Every type of case has a statute of limitations, or deadline. The deadlines are strict. If you don’t file a lawsuit in time, you don’t get a second chance. For example, the statute of limitations for personal injury in Illinois is two years from the date of the injury. That is your deadline for filing suit. There are some exceptions, like if the injured person is a minor, but the two-year rule applies in the vast majority of cases. Always ask an attorney which rule applies in your case. And don’t delay if you think you might want to file a lawsuit. You don’t want to miss your chance.

If you have a question about these tips, or anything else, just let us know.

Which lawyer has won the most cases?

May 16, 2013

Honestly, we don’t really know, because it doesn’t really matter. What matters most is whether your attorney is able to help you meet your goals.

We aren’t saying that winning never matters. The point is that winning means something different for every client. A good example is a criminal case. There is a range of possible outcomes. Maybe getting probation is considered a win for someone who is facing years in prison. For someone else, however, probation might not be considered a win. It’s all relative.

Every case is different. And you need different lawyers for different cases. Within the area of personal injury, you would need a different attorney for a botched surgery than you would for a car accident. Sometimes you need an attorney who is prepared to handle a rare catastrophic injury case; other times you need an attorney who can quickly and effectively handle a routine accident.

We evaluate and recommend lawyers based on many different factors, including client satisfaction, which doesn’t necessarily translate into a win-loss record. If you call us looking for a win-loss record on a particular attorney, we’ll take the time to explain why you can’t just rely on that number alone (if it’s even possible to determine what that number is).

Instead, we recommend attorneys based on their experience with your particular type of case, how well they communicate with clients, how highly they are regarded among other lawyers and among judges, whether they are local, whether they have enough resources to handle your case, and whether we think it will be a good fit all around. If you’re looking for an opinion on an Illinois attorney, give us a call.

Five things you should know about having to pay child support in Illinois

May 15, 2013

Child support seems to be one of the most confusing and also common legal issues that people in Illinois face.  Here are five common misunderstandings that we see and believe people should be aware of.

1. Whether you spend 50% of the time with your child or no time at all, one parent is going to be named primary custodian of that child and they will receive child support. The two parents can agree to something different, but otherwise a Judge is going to rule that one of them gets support.
2. Your own personal expenses will not reduce your child support obligation.  This may be really unfair, but it’s the law. So if your complaint is “by the time I finish paying child support, I don’t have enough money to pay for my rent,” it will likely fall on deaf ears when you go before a Judge.
3. Once a child support order is put in to place by the Judge, there are no time limits for collecting on it.  So if a dead-beat parent avoids paying, they’ll never really be completely off the hook.  And interest will be added on to all that they owe.
4. If you lose your job or aren’t making as much as you used to when the child support order was put in to place, it’s your job to go to court and get the support order lowered.  It can’t be done retroactively.  In similar fashion, if your ex is making more money and you want to increase the amount you get, you have to go to court.
5. Verbal agreements that you make outside of a courtroom are typically not enforceable.  Same holds true even for most written agreements.  If you want to be safe and protect yourself, you need to get in to court.

If you have any questions about Illinois child support laws, please click the contact button on the left side of the page.  We’d be happy to help you.