There are six things to look for in a local personal injury attorney. These are:
- Specializes in personal injuries
- A proven record of high settlements and successful verdicts
- Activity in associations and groups with trial lawyers
- Credible testimonials, reviews, and other commentaries
- Works for you on a contingency basis
- Present and helpful on the internet.
Below, we’ll see if Amar meets these criteria.
1. Specializes in Personal Injuries
According to Amar Dhillon’s website, his firm focuses on personal injuries. The major categories cited include, but aren’t limited to:
- Dog Attacks and Bites
- Motor Vehicle Accidents
- Medical Malpractice
- Premises Liability
- Wrongful Death
It’s worth noting that ‘motor vehicle accidents’ covers many different scenarios. This is a solid selection of areas for a personal injury attorney to cover, so Amar meets the first goal.
2. Experience Getting High Settlements
Amar’s website has a Recent Settlements page listing successful verdicts. Highlights at the time this review was done include:
- $610,000 for a rear-end collision resulting in the death of a minor child
- $750,000 for an auto product liability where a seatbelt defect led to death
- $32,000 for a motorcycle collision involving a fractured finger and multiple burns
Helpfully, Amar’s website describes not just the settlement net to clients after expenses and fees, but in several cases, additional costs (including attorney’s fees) are listed to help clients get a better sense for what his fees would be.
Aside from all that, he clearly meets the second criteria.
3. Active In Associations
Amar is active in the following groups:
- American Bar Association
- Texas Trial Lawyers Association
- Fairfax County Trial Lawyers Association
- State Bar of Texas
- State Bar of Virginia
- Washington D.C. bar
This is an excellent spread of membership, allowing Amar to head to the nation’s capital and argue cases if a local result isn’t enough. He clearly fulfills the third criteria.
4. Credible Testimonials
Amar’s website includes a public testimonials section, allowing for the display of full names and star ratings. Unfortunately, some ratings are only stars, which are less helpful for establishing credibility. On the other hand, at the time of this review, several testimonials went into detail about the clients’ experience with Amar’s firm. Comments include:
- “Nice people very helpful” and “on top of things” (Jenny C.)
- “Very professional people and educated as well.” (Jessica R.)
- “This law firm is great.” (Kristin V.)
- “I would like to take this time to extend Thanks to the law firm that helped me out when I needed it and least expected it.” (Max J.)
Amar’s site could be better at prompting clients to provide details – not just star ratings – but the reviews are present and available for anyone to see.
5. Works On A Contingency Basis
Amar Dhillon’s website is extremely clear that they work on a “No Win No Fee” basis. In fact, the page discussing this is quite detailed, explaining what this concept means, when his firm gets paid, and what the team will need to represent each client properly.
This part of his website also answers some other common questions, including notes on how to begin filing a claim, how long the legal process usually takes, what will happen if you’re not able to travel, and how long it takes to receive settlements.
It’s worth noting that a few of these are non-answers – that is, Amar can’t tell you because so many factors could influence it. Still, he meets the fifth criteria, and that’s the most important thing here.
6. Present And Helpful Online
Amar’s website has a blog, though you have to do a little searching through the menus to find it. According to the timestamps, the blog has been consistently updated once a month for quite some time. That’s a little on the low end for a blog, but it’s within an acceptable range. Topics on the blog include things like:
- Premises liability for small business owners
- When parents can sue for birth injuries or congenital disabilities
- How to reduce aggressiveness in dogs
- Understanding the legal definition of a wrongful death
- Determining fault in vehicle collisions
This is an excellent spread of topics – naturally, most people are only going to be interested in one or two of these, but that’s fine for lawyers.
The site also links to social media accounts, including Twitter (not publicly active for several years) and Facebook (mostly posts linking back to their blog). The firm isn’t as active online as it could be, though the ongoing commitment to their blog is a helpful starting point. We’re giving them the point on this one, but we would like to see a more robust presence online.
Overall, Amar Dhillon is a lawyer that meets all six of the criteria for a good personal injury attorney, and we recommend him as a first choice.
