Questions & Answers

Q: Are car wrecks the only type of case that you handle?

A: No, but it is the most common way that people are injured and automobile collisions make up the majority of my docket.

Q: What other kinds of cases do you take?

A: Injuries from defective products, hospital or pharmaceutical errors that cause serious injury or worse, life insurance benefit denials, injuries from falling merchandise in large warehouse-type retail stores, dog bites, construction site injuries, deceptive trade practices cases, and other injury and civil cases.

Q: How do you decide what cases to take?

A: Liability, damages and collectibility. If there is evidence of liability on the part of the person or company that injured you, there is medical evidence supporting your injury, and the one who caused you harm has insurance or other ability to pay your damages, then that is a case that I would consider.

Q: If I get hurt and it's not my fault, why isn't that enough?

A: Getting your day in court is a hollow victory if there is no money to pay your damages. Since I depend on satisfied clients to refer new cases to me, I want to do everything possible to make sure that you are satisfied with my representation of you. Having an uncollectible judgment is not very satisfying.

Q: Speaking of new clients, I looked you up in the Yellow Pages and I couldn't find your ad? Where is it?

A: I do not advertise in the Yellow Pages. Those ads are expensive and I am not sure how many people are choosing lawyers from the Yellow Pages. Some of the advertising lawyers have gone to two-page ads, to try to get attention.

Q: When I was young, I don't think they had all the lawyer ads on TV that I see now. Is this something new?

A: Yes. Lawyer advertising used to be prohibited by the rules of ethics that govern lawyers. However, about 20 years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court said that lawyers have just as much right to advertise their services to potential clients as any other profession or business. The problem with some of the television advertising for lawyers that you see today is that it is tasteless. In fairness, the same could be said about advertising for many other products and services. All types of attorney advertising are allowed, including direct mail. There is one line that lawyers are not supposed to cross: personal solicitation. In other words, if you have been injured in a collision, you are not supposed to receive an unsolicited phone call or personal visit from a lawyer or his/her representative.

Q: Do you advertise on TV or send solicitations in the mail?

A: No. I do maintain and promote the website "carwrecks.com" because it is an ideal way for people to communicate and obtain information. I have never seen a Yellow Pages ad that could communicate as much information about a lawyer as this site can.

Q: I've seen ads where lawyers say that they are "not board certified". What's that all about?

A: The State Bar of Texas requires that attorneys who advertise that they handle a particular type of case then inform consumers in their ads whether or not the attorney is board certified in any particular specialty. If they are not, the ad is supposed to reveal that. This is a consumer protection issue, but many non-certified attorneys want the rules changed so that they no longer have to put the "not board certified" disclaimer in their ads. Since only about 11% of Texas attorneys are board certified in any of the 15 specialty areas, I expect that the 89% will eventually prevail and you will no longer see the disclaimer.

Q: What does "board certified" mean?

A: Board Certification is a lengthy process involving peer review, judicial review, an appropriate level of experience within the specialty, and successful completion of a day-long written examination. The certification process is administered by The Texas Board of Legal Specialization. Certification lasts for 5 years, at which time the attorney must recertify to continue to hold himself out as a board certified specialist.

Q: Are you board certified?

A: Yes. I am board certified in Personal Injury Trial Law and Civil Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.

Q: So 11% of the lawyers in Houston are able to say that?

A: No. Approximately 11% of the attorneys in Texas are board certified in one or more of 15 recognized specialties. Out of the approximately 15,000 lawyers in the Houston area, about 150 are board certified in Personal Injury Trial Law and Civil Trial Law, and of that number, approximately half of them work for defense law firms or defend insurance companies.

Q: So if we do the math . . . ?

A: That's right, only about one-half of 1% of the lawyers in Houston are board certified in Personal Injury Trial Law and Civil Trial Law and representing injured people, instead of corporations and insurance companies.

Q: I've noticed that you use the terms "lawyer" and "attorney" interchangeably. Is there a difference?

A: No, not really. "Lawyer" describes my occupation. "Attorney and Counselor at Law" is the title I am allowed to use after receiving a license to practice law.

Q: Why do some people hate lawyers so much?

A: Probably the same reasons that some people hate certain ethnic, religious, and racial groups: fear, ignorance, stupidity, and long ingrained prejudices acquired within the family. If Dad hates pinto beans and bans them from the table, you can be assured that the kids will develop that same prejudice. A hatred of lawyers is acquired the same way, with the added permission and support of comedians who tell hateful jokes, editorial writers who fill the newspapers, and corporations who fund anti-lawyer organizations now erecting billboards along our freeway decrying "lawsuit abuse".

Q: My daughter wants to be a lawyer. She's already planning which college to go to and then what law school to attend. Do you have any tips on books to read?

A: It sounds like she has already been reading books about how to get into law school. I suggest that she consider why she wants to be a lawyer. The book that I always recommend to future law students is "Gideon's Trumpet", by Anthony Lewis. Authored in 1964, the book is a quick read and tells the story of Clarence Earl Gideon, a poor Floridian convicted of a crime without the benefit of representation by a lawyer.

For a private answer to your question, send an e-mail to albert@carwrecks.com