Confused about 1-800 law firms? You are not alone!
Over the past 18 months, an increasing number of mysterious law firms have started to advertise in Ottawa. You’ve never heard of them, but suddenly they have a fleet (a fleet!!) of OC Transpo buses, billboards and radio ads. You see those ads and you may well wonder why an Ottawa law firm would be using a 1-800 telephone number.
The simple answer is that these law firms are not Ottawa firms. They are from Toronto or southern Ontario. Many of these firms have no Ottawa presence, apart from the ads.
Ontario lawyers are allowed to practice all over Ontario. However, just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. This is especially true when servicing personal injury clients.
If you are considering hiring a lawyer from outside Eastern Ontario for your Eastern Ontario accident consider these 3 key facts:
- Established Ottawa personal injury law firms are very well connected with local rehabilitation teams. We know the occupational therapists, psychologists, physiotherapist and doctors personally. We socialize with them. We support their causes. Sometimes we train their staff. You need an Arabic-speaking therapist with a specialty in visual impairment? We know one.
- We really do come to you! When our clients want or need us to come to their homes, we do it. Every single week Auger Hollingsworth’s lawyers are visiting clients to help gather documents, prepare the case and get and provide updates. How often are you actually going to see the Toronto lawyers?
- The vast majority majority of personal injury cases settle without a trial. But what if yours doesn’t? How much preparation will you personally get from an out-of-town lawyer? Will that lawyer meet and interview and prepare all the lay witnesses? Your family doctor?
If you want to speak to a local law firm about your Ottawa or Eastern Ontario accident case, call us at 613-233-4529.
