Most of the Advice on Choosing a Lawyer Is Useless
Search "how to choose a personal injury lawyer" and you will find a hundred articles telling you to look for experience, check reviews, and ask about fees. That is technically correct and practically worthless. Every law firm website says they have experience. Every firm has positive reviews. Every PI firm works on contingency. The real question is what separates the attorneys who get you $500,000 from the ones who get you $50,000 for the same injury. Here is what actually matters.
Do They Try Cases or Just Settle Them?
This is the single most important question and almost nobody asks it. Insurance companies keep detailed databases tracking which firms go to trial and which ones always settle. If your lawyer has not seen the inside of a courtroom in five years, the adjuster across the table knows it. And that adjuster's settlement offer will reflect it. Ask any prospective attorney: when was the last time you took a case to verdict? If they hesitate or cannot give you a specific answer, that tells you everything. Ali Koussan's $14.95 million jury verdict in February 2026 — tried solo against four defense attorneys — is the kind of result that changes how insurance companies negotiate with our firm across every case.
How Many Cases Are They Actually Handling?
Some firms sign up hundreds of clients and run cases through a settlement factory. Your case gets assigned to a paralegal, your calls go to voicemail, and your settlement is whatever the insurance company first offers because no one has time to negotiate. At a boutique firm like Koussan Law, your attorney knows your name, your injuries, your family situation, and your case strategy. Volume mills maximize revenue per attorney. Boutique firms maximize recovery per client. These are fundamentally different business models and they produce fundamentally different results.
Do They Understand Michigan's Specific Laws?
Michigan personal injury law is not like other states. The no-fault auto insurance system, the comparative fault threshold, the medical malpractice procedural requirements, the governmental immunity rules — these are Michigan-specific frameworks that out-of-state lawyers and billboard attorneys often do not understand deeply enough. When your PIP coverage election determines whether you have $50,000 or unlimited medical coverage, you need an attorney who has navigated that system hundreds of times.
What Is Their Actual Fee Structure?
All contingency fee arrangements are not created equal. Ask about the percentage (typically 33% pre-litigation, 40% if a lawsuit is filed). Ask whether costs (filing fees, expert witness fees, court reporter fees) are deducted before or after the attorney's percentage — this can mean thousands of dollars difference. Ask if there is a sliding scale. And ask what happens if you lose. At Koussan Law, you pay nothing unless we win, and we are transparent about every cost from day one.
Trust Your Gut
After the credentials and the track record and the fee structure, there is something that cannot be quantified: do you trust this person? Do they listen to you or talk over you? Do they explain things clearly or use jargon to impress? Do they promise you a specific dollar amount (a red flag — no honest attorney does this) or do they give you a realistic range with honest caveats? The attorney-client relationship in a personal injury case can last years. Choose someone you would trust with your family's financial future, because that is exactly what is at stake.
Koussan Law offers free consultations with no obligation. Call (313) 800-0000 and judge for yourself.
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