A traumatic brain injury can quietly reshape a person's entire life. Memory, mood, focus, relationships, and the ability to work can all change after what looks, on paper, like a "mild" injury. When your future is at stake, the lawyer you choose matters more than almost any other decision you will make. Not all brain injury attorneys have the same training, and the difference between them can be the difference between a denied claim and full, fair compensation.
The challenge is that most people hire a lawyer during one of the hardest moments of their lives, often knowing very little about how to tell one firm from another. To help you make an informed choice, here are the most important questions to ask before you sign with any lawyer to handle your traumatic brain injury case.
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DeShaw Law: A Different Approach to Brain Injury Cases
At Dr. Aaron DeShaw, Esq., P.C., we take a different approach: one that draws directly from our founder’s previous career in medicine. Before he became a lawyer, Aaron DeShaw was a Doctor of Chiropractic: a distinction that requires more than 4,000 hours of classroom study that included gross anatomy with human dissection, neurology, and neurological diagnosis.
Additionally, Dr. DeShaw has completed over 700 hours of instruction specific to traumatic brain injuries, and he lectures to both doctors and lawyers on these topics. That combination of medical and legal knowledge is rare among brain injury attorneys. He is considered an expert in his field, and has secured record verdicts in cases involving TBI and other catastrophic injury.
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6 Questions To Ask At Your Consultation with a Brain Injury Lawyer
1. How Much of Your Practice Is Devoted to Brain Injury Cases?
Many firms advertise for brain injury work, but few actually concentrate on it. Ask directly what percentage of the firm's caseload involves brain injury cases, and how many the lawyer has taken all the way through settlement or trial. Traumatic brain injury lawyers who handle these matters regularly understand the patterns insurers use to dispute them and the proof it takes to overcome those disputes.
You want experienced brain injury lawyers who can point to specific results, not a general practice firm that treats a brain injury the same as a broken arm. A brain injury is often a lifelong condition, and it deserves a lawyer who has devoted real focus to it.
Read More from DeShaw Law: Choosing the Best Brain Injury Attorney in 2026
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2. Do You Understand the Medicine Behind Brain Injuries?
This is one of the most revealing questions you can ask. A skilled traumatic brain injury attorney needs to understand neuroanatomy, the limits of medical imaging, and how brain damage actually presents in a patient. Ask the lawyer to explain, in plain terms, why a normal CT or MRI does not rule out a serious injury. If they cannot, keep looking.
The truth surprises most people: roughly 80 percent of traumatic brain injuries show no abnormal findings on standard CT or MRI, including some of the most severe cases. A lawyer who does not grasp this will struggle when an insurance company's doctor points to a "clean" scan and claims nothing is wrong. The medicine drives the case, and your lawyer needs to speak that language fluently.
Read More from DeShaw Law: Medical Imaging Such as MRI and CT Does Not Detect 80% of Brain Damage
Talk to an experienced Portland TBI attorney for a free consult today.
3. What Is Your Trial Record, and Will You Take My Case to Trial?
Insurers keep detailed records on lawyers. A firm known for quickly settling rather than trying cases will often receive lower offers, because the insurance company knows it will never face a jury. A lawyer with a strong verdict history, by contrast, commands higher offers before a lawsuit is ever filed.
Ask whether the lawyer actually tries cases, and what their largest verdicts have been. This matters even more in states like Oregon, where juries tend to be more skeptical of injury claims and case values run lower than in neighboring states. Whether your injury arose from a fall, from car accidents, or from truck accidents, you want a law firm that insurance companies take seriously in the courtroom.
Read More from DeShaw Law: Your Lawyer Is a Very Important Factor in Your Personal Injury Settlement Offer
We have recovered over a billion dollars for our clients, including the largest personal injury case settled in Oregon. Call us for your free consultation today.
4. Who Will Actually Handle My Case?
At some firms, the lawyer you meet is not the lawyer who does the work. Ask who will be your point of contact, who will prepare your case, and who will stand up in court if it comes to that. You are entitled to know the legal team behind your claim and their level of experience with brain injury litigation specifically.
You also deserve to know how the firm communicates. A brain-injured client and their family members often need extra patience, clear explanations, and accommodations for symptoms like fatigue, light sensitivity, and memory problems. A firm that truly understands these injuries will have thought about how to work with you, not just for you.
Read More from DeShaw Law: A Law Firm That Understands Traumatic Brain Injuries
Our team handles Portland TBI cases with the utmost professionalism and care. Call us for your free consultation.
5. How Do You Value a Brain Injury Claim?
A serious brain injury generates costs that extend far beyond the emergency room. Ask how the lawyer approaches the full value of brain injury claims, and listen for whether they account for the whole picture. That includes current and future medical bills, ongoing medical expenses for therapy and rehabilitation, lost wages, reduced earning capacity, and the very real pain and suffering that comes with cognitive and emotional change.
A lawyer who only tallies your existing medical bills is undervaluing your case. The lasting effects of a brain injury, on your career and your relationships, are often the largest part of a claim and require careful proof. Experienced counsel builds that proof from the start.
Read More from DeShaw Law: "What Is My Case Worth?" 7 Factors That Affect Case Value
We understand the impact a traumatic brain injury can have on your life and your family’s. Talk to us today.
6. How Do You Handle Insurance Companies and Their Defenses?
Insurance companies rely on predictable tactics in brain injury litigation. They hire defense doctors to argue that a client is exaggerating or "malingering," they point to normal scans, and they suggest that symptoms are unrelated to the collision. Ask the lawyer how they respond to these defenses.
A prepared traumatic brain injury attorney will explain how they counter junk science, document the connection between the injury and the incident, and hold the insurer accountable. If you suffered a brain injury due to another party's negligence, your lawyer's ability to dismantle these defenses is central to the outcome of your personal injury case.
Read More from DeShaw Law: The MMPI and Fake Bad Scale in Traumatic Brain Injury Claims
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Why These Questions Matter
The answers to these questions tell you whether a lawyer is genuinely equipped for the complexity of a brain injury, or simply hoping for a quick settlement. Brain injury cases sit at the intersection of medicine and law, and they demand a lawyer who is comfortable in both worlds. The right questions, asked before you hire, protect you from learning the hard way that your lawyer was out of their depth.
Read More from DeShaw Law: What to Do After a Traumatic Brain Injury
Call DeShaw Law: Portland Brain Injury Lawyers
Our firm has obtained more than one billion dollars in settlements and verdicts, including the largest personal injury verdict in Oregon history. Because of our reputation, other lawyers across Oregon, Washington, and beyond hire us as trial counsel on their most serious brain injury claims.
When you work with our legal team, you get lawyers who understand the medicine, know how insurance companies operate, and are prepared to try your case if that is what it takes to recover everything you are owed for your medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering.
If you or a loved one suffered a brain injury in Oregon or Washington, we invite you to call our office at (503) 227-1233 for a free, no-risk consultation. The initial call and consultation with a lawyer are available to you at no cost, and with no obligation to hire us.