Hiring a birth injury attorney is one of the most important decisions a family can make after a child is injured during delivery. Asking the right questions to ask a birth injury attorney before you hire one — including questions that could disqualify any firm — gives you the information you need to make a sound choice. This checklist is designed to help parents evaluate any law firm, including this one.
This article provides general legal information; consult a licensed Illinois attorney for advice specific to your situation.
Who Reviews the Fetal Monitor Strips?
Illinois law requires any attorney who files a medical malpractice complaint to attach a written report from a qualified reviewing health professional stating that the case has merit. This requirement comes from 735 ILCS 5/2-622. But the certificate requirement is a floor, not a ceiling. The more important question is: who specifically reviews the fetal monitoring data before your case is filed?
Fetal heart rate interpretation is a specialized skill. A physician who reviewed general obstetric records is not the same as a perinatal specialist or a maternal-fetal medicine physician who has trained specifically in electronic fetal monitoring. Ask the attorney: Is your reviewing physician board-certified in maternal-fetal medicine or obstetrics? Have they testified in fetal monitoring cases specifically? The answer tells you whether the firm invests in quality expert review or checks the statutory box with a generalist.
Do You Fund Expert Costs?
Birth injury cases require multiple experts: perinatal medicine, neonatology, nursing standards, pediatric neurology, life-care planning, and vocational economics, among others. Expert fees in these cases commonly run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars before trial. Some firms front these costs and recover them at the end of the case. Others require the family to pay as the case proceeds, or they cap what they are willing to spend.
Ask directly: Does your firm advance all litigation costs, including expert fees? What happens to those costs if we lose? Under Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct, Rule 1.5, the fee agreement must describe how costs are handled. Read that section of the retainer agreement carefully. A firm that is reluctant to fund significant expert costs may not be positioned to take a case to trial against a well-resourced hospital system.
What Is Your Trial Record in Medical Malpractice Specifically?
Many personal injury attorneys settle cases routinely and rarely go to trial. Against major hospital defendants, a firm’s willingness and ability to try a case affects the settlement dynamic from day one. A defendant who knows your attorney does not try cases has less reason to offer full value early in negotiations.
Ask: How many medical malpractice cases have you taken to verdict in the last five years? How many of those were birth injury or obstetric cases specifically? What were the outcomes? You are not looking for a perfect win rate — trials are unpredictable. You are looking for a firm that has been inside a courtroom on these facts, knows how to present fetal monitoring testimony to a jury, and is prepared to go the distance if settlement is not reasonable. Also ask: Have you ever had a medical malpractice case go to a defense verdict, and what did you learn from it? The answer tells you more than a list of wins.
To learn more about whether you can file a birth injury lawsuit in Illinois, review our detailed overview: Can I Sue For A Birth Injury.
How Long Have You Handled Birth Injury Cases?
Birth injury litigation is a subspecialty within medical malpractice. Attorneys who handle a wide variety of personal injury matters — car accidents, slip and falls, premises liability — alongside birth injury cases are not the same as attorneys who have focused on obstetric and neonatal injury for years. The medicine is complex, the expert community is small, and the defendants — hospital systems and physician groups — are experienced at defending these claims.
Ask how many years the firm has handled birth injury cases and what percentage of their current caseload consists of medical malpractice. Also ask whether the attorney who will handle your case personally has this background, or whether it will be referred internally to another attorney you have not met. Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct, Rule 1.4, requires attorneys to keep clients reasonably informed about the status of their matter and to explain things clearly enough that clients can make informed decisions. Knowing who is actually working on your case is a basic piece of that picture.
Do You Have Access to a Life-Care Planner?
If your child has cerebral palsy, hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, or another permanent condition resulting from a birth injury, the damages in the case include a lifetime of medical care, therapy, assistive technology, home modification, and lost earning capacity. These figures must be presented through a credentialed life-care planner and an economist — experts who can construct a detailed, defensible damages model that survives cross-examination.
Ask whether the firm has worked with life-care planners on prior cases and whether they have a network of pediatric rehabilitation experts. A firm that is new to this type of damages calculation may undervalue the case or struggle to present the evidence effectively at trial or mediation. Understanding how a birth injury lawyer can help your family goes beyond liability — the damages side of the case is equally important and requires its own expertise.
Questions That Should Disqualify Any Firm
There are responses that should give you pause regardless of how impressive a firm’s marketing appears. Be cautious if an attorney:
- Promises a specific settlement amount before reviewing the records — no attorney can ethically do this.
- Cannot name the type of expert who would review the fetal monitoring data in your case.
- Has no trial experience in medical malpractice and makes no mention of it.
- Proposes to refer the case to another firm without disclosing this clearly and getting your written consent under Rule 1.5(e).
- Cannot explain how costs are handled in the retainer agreement or is vague about who pays if the case does not resolve in your favor.
- Pressures you to sign a retainer at the first meeting without giving you time to review the fee agreement.
A reputable firm will welcome these questions. If an attorney is uncomfortable being asked about their trial record or their expert review process, that is information too.
Talk to a Chicago Attorney — Free Consultation
Phillips Law Offices handles birth injury cases for families throughout Illinois. We are glad to answer every question on this list directly. Call us at (312) 346-4262 or visit our contact page to schedule a free, no-obligation consultation. There is no fee unless we recover on your behalf.