Attorney McElwee has spent over twenty years serving those who have suffered personal injuries in accidents. This includes auto accidents, work place injuries, medical malpractice, premises liability, and other personal injuries. We have offices in Winston-Salem and North Wilkesboro, North Carolina.
Our firm’s philosophy regarding personal injury claims is that you suffered the injury, not your attorney. All too often we’ve seen situations where the attorney, the medical providers, and other creditors walk away with the lion’s share of the settlement, while the injured client is left with a very small share. This can leave the client, who suffered the harm, wondering if it was worthwhile to bring an attorney onboard in the first place.
When we represent someone who has been injured in an accident, we prioritize the following:
We keep our fee reasonable
Like all attorneys, we charge a contingency fee for our representation in personal injury cases. This means our fee is a percentage of what we are able to get for you, and you don’t have to pay a fee up front.
We’re different, however, in that we strive to make our services affordable. In most accident cases, we charge a fee of 20% for our representation. If you shop around, you’ll find that the standard fee for most firms is 25% for a claim, and 33% (or more) if a lawsuit must be filed. Occasionally we may charge a bigger percentage if your case is more complex than usual, but rest assured we’ll let you know up front if that is the situation and clearly explain what our fee structure will be. In any case, our goal is to be your most affordable option.
By keeping our personal injury/accident fees reasonable, you have a better opportunity to pocket more money at the end of the day. When you’ve been injured and unable to work, every dollar counts.
We encourage you to shop around, and call the other attorneys who may contact you. Yes, the ones on the radio and the billboards too. A prudent client is one who explores options, asks the right questions, and reads the fine print. At the end of the day, we hope you’ll find that our firm is the best option for putting more of the payout into your pocket.
We fight to reduce bills and medical liens
When you’ve been in an accident and incurred medical expenses relative to your personal injuries, your medical providers and insurers are going to have a “lien” against any settlement you receive. This means they will be entitled to reimbursement for any costs they have paid or covered.
However, these medical providers and insurers are usually NOT entitled to a dollar-for-dollar payment or reimbursement. As the injured party, there are laws in place to assure creditors cannot take your entire settlement.
One of the most important jobs we do is to fight hard to reduce these liens. When a medical or insurance lien is successfully reduced, more of the settlement goes into your pocket. We’ve been doing this for years, and our number one goal is to make sure as much as possible goes into your pocket.
We strive to make the process easy
When you’ve had an accident and suffered a personal injury, your first thoughts are about healing, being with your family, and getting back to normal. The anxiety of fighting with an insurance company, and staving off bill collectors is not what you need.
When you hire us, we’ll immediately take steps to get both the insurance company and bill collectors off your back. They’ll need to deal with us, instead of ringing your phone or filling your mailbox with anxiety-inducing bills. Our job, as your personal injury attorney, is to manage those issues for you. We’ll talk to them all, and keep up with your bills – so you can concentrate on cooperating.
We also understand the inconvenience of traveling to a law office when you’ve been hurt. Don’t worry – we’re happy to come to you. Again, our goal is to simplify the process and help put as much of the personal injury settlement in your pocket as we can – plain and simple.