How We Handle Personal Injury Cases Differently | Adam Smallow Injury Lawyers

If you've been injured in a car accident, you're probably asking yourself a lot of questions right now. Will this take forever? Do I have to go to court? How much is this going to cost me? What actually happens after I sign with a lawyer? Those are exactly the right questions. And honestly, the fact that most lawyers don't answer them clearly is one of our biggest problems in this industry. I'm attorney Adam Smallow. I've been practicing personal injury law, specifically car and truck accident law, in Maryland for over 20 years. I'm admitted to the Maryland Bar, the Pennsylvania Bar, the Washington, D.C. Bar, and the United States District Court for Maryland. I can't tell you what hiring any other lawyer looks like, every practice is different, but I can tell you exactly what it looks like to hire us. Not a vague overview, not legal jargon, the actual process, start to finish. Part of what we believe in here is that you always know exactly where your case stands. No guessing, no waiting on a callback that never comes, no uncertain roadmap to your physical and financial recovery. So let's walk through. Starts with a phone call. You can reach us at 410-525-4242. We answer the phone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Not a voicemail, not a phone tree, a real live person ready to listen 24-7. But it is 2026, so people also search online on Google, on ChatGPT, and whatever AI programs are coming down the pipeline. Where Google searches rank law firms online to prospective clients, AI platforms like ChatGPT and Claude make recommendations based on a law firm's entire online visibility. If you do manage to land on our website, mdaccidentlaw.com, you will find a couple of high-tech ways for you to contact us. We have a live web chat where a real person is available to message and obtain information about an accident and injury. We also recently launched on our website a state-of-the-art custom case evaluation where you can answer a few brief questions about your accident and your injuries. Then a customized evaluation about the strengths Facts and weaknesses of your claim will be emailed directly to you. So either way, phone call or online, you tell us what happened, the accident, your injuries, where things stand right now, including medical care, and we listen. No pressure, completely free, Completely confidential. If we think we can help you, we'll tell you. If we don't think we can, we'll tell you that too. And point you somewhere that might be a better fit. We represent injured people only. Never insurance companies, never businesses, never corporations. So when we take a case, it's because we actually believe in it. That belief shapes everything that comes after. If we think we can represent you well, we'll send over what's called a legal services agreement. And let me be upfront about how our fees work because I want zero confusion here. We work on what's called a contingency fee basis. Legal term, simple meaning. You pay us nothing unless we win your case. No upfront costs, no hourly billing, no surprise charges. Think about what that means for a second. You're already dealing with medical bills, missed work and everything else that comes with being hurt after a car accident. The last thing you need is a lawyer adding to that pile with fees before they've won you a single dollar. So we don't. Our standard fee is one third of whatever we recover for you. If this case is moved into litigation and requires the filing of a complaint in the Circuit Court of Maryland, that fee can go up to 40% because that process involves a lot more time and complexity on our end. We're always upfront about that. We also don't nickel and dime you on administrative costs. No copying fees, no postage, none of that. Before you sign anything, you receive a written fee agreement in plain language. Read it, ask questions, call us or come into the office and we'll walk through it together every word of it. And here's something most lawyers won't bring up on their own. You can change law firms, change your lawyer at any time for any reason, and it doesn't cost you anything. We'd rather earn your trust than rely on a written agreement to keep it. Here's something we do that I haven't seen many other firms do. When you become a client at Adam Smilow Injury Lawyers, you immediately receive your own unique client portal, a phone number, to text our team directly any time a question comes up. You can also send photos or screenshots of anything related to your case through that client portal. It's not a general inbox. It's your number connected to your team. The most common thing I hear from people who've worked with other firms, they signed up and then they heard nothing. Days went by, maybe weeks, calls went unreturned, and that crash, which may have been one of the worst things that ever happened to them, was just sitting there with no update. That's not how we operate. We have a dedicated team of paralegals, managers, attorneys, and legal assistants standing by and ready to help you every step of the way. Call, text, or walk right into our office. Remember those days? And they will be available and at your service. You'll hear from us constantly without having to chase us down. You'll even receive video updates from yours truly as your case proceeds down the path of a personal injury claim. Now, this is something I feel very strongly about. It is in the DNA of everything and everyone at Adam Smilow Injury Lawyers, your medical care. After a car truck accident, a lot of injured victims end up in the same high volume car accident injury clinics, rushed visits, same treatment plan for everyone. It's like a fast food joint, same ingredients, same burger, every time. The focus ends up on being on the paperwork, not the patient, and that's not what we want want for the people we represent. From day one, we can offer you access to the highest quality medical providers in your area. Five-star medical care, primary care, physical therapy, chiropractors, pain management physicians, specialists like neurologists and neurosurgeons, orthopedists, imaging facilities, and even mental health care for PTSD or anxiety after a car or truck accident. Whatever your injuries require, there will be real medical providers available to you. The kinds of doctors, therapists, and facilities that we would and have referred our friends and family to. And if you don't have health insurance, many of these medical providers we work with will put their bill on a lien to be recovered after settlement. Nothing out of pocket up front. No co-pays, no deductibles, nothing. Here's the other reason this matters beyond your physical recovery. Highly skilled and consistent medical care creates the documentation that tells the story of your injuries, what happened to you, how it's affected your life, what it's taken to recover. In Maryland, the quality of your medical records is one of the most valuable things we bring to the negotiating table. We focus on your case so you can focus on healing. While you're in treatment, we're working. Opening up your claim with the insurance companies, investigating, obtaining the police report, contacting any necessary witnesses, Obtaining medical records and bills, documenting lost wages, building out the full picture of what this accident has cost you, physically, financially, and in terms of the impact that it has had on your individual life and the lives of those around you. And the moment you're represented by our firm, the other driver's insurance company stops calling you. All of that goes through us. You don't take their calls. You don't have to answer their questions. That's our job now. Once treatment is complete, or once we have a clear enough picture of where your recovery is headed, we enter the negotiation phase. Medical records, medical bills, lost wages, out-of-pocket costs, and a full narrative of the non-economic impact on your life. The pain, the anxiety, the disruption of your life, the things that don't necessarily show up in the medical records, but are absolutely compensable under Maryland law. And I want to be clear about this part of the personal injury process. The auto insurance companies have never been more difficult to do business with. We know their tactics, we know their playbook, and it isn't pretty these days. Their case evaluations and settlement offers are a joke. Their negotiations are almost always in bad faith. You can't win against them unless you have a plan, and this is where experience really shows up. And at Adam Smilow Injury Lawyers, our plan for your settlement is put into place the moment you sign up with us for representation. The insurance companies won't give you an inch these days. You have to bring the fight directly to their doorstep. Here's something you may not know. The auto insurance companies track lawyers. They know which firms will take a case to trial and which ones will eventually fold. They know the lawyers that do not have the horses to go the distance and settle cases for half the value. And they know the lawyers that don't hesitate to do what it takes to win for their clients. And that affects every number they put on the table. Adam Smilow Injury Lawyers has made the Super Lawyers list six years running. We are part of the National Trial Lawyers Top 100 Civil Plaintiffs in Maryland. In 2025, We were honored by the Law Firm 500 as one of the fastest-growing law firms in the United States. And this year, we just made the Inc. 5000. I'm not saying that to brag. I'm saying it because the insurance companies know what we bring to the negotiation table. And they know that their bad faith, cheap settlement, disingenuous discussions will not work on us. And before any settlement is reached, you see it first. And you approve it. You get a full breakdown of where every dollar goes, down to the penny. No surprises, complete transparency. No final decisions are made without your express approval and signature. Most personal injury cases settle, almost all, but that doesn't mean these cases settle without the strength of a lawsuit. Law firms that don't file lawsuits get lower offers. Full stop. Those law firms do a disservice to their clients, especially in today's environment of the bad faith auto insurers. There's a big difference between a firm that wants to simply settle cases and move on to the next one, and a firm that's willing to fight for maximum compensation each and every time. The insurance companies can sense that like sharks smell blood in the ocean. We file lawsuits every day. We file them quickly when necessary and always efficiently. We don't wait months and months. We don't wait for insurance companies to be more generous. They won't. Cases are not like fine wines. They don't age well. You need to strike first and fast to get the attention of the auto insurers. They prey on weak attorneys, but not the ones who control the tone and tenor of their clients cases from start to finish. If a lawsuit is the right move, and it often is, we'll explain every step of the process and what it means. But here's the thing. The fact that we're willing to walk into a courtroom on every case is usually what keeps us out of one. When your case settles, here's exactly what that looks like. You get a clear itemized breakdown. The total settlement, our fee, any outstanding medical bills or expenses, and then your tax-free bottom line walkaway number. Nothing estimated, nothing buried in fine print. The complete picture and the very end of your personal injury case. And if you want to see what this process has produced for real people, you can look at our results We recently settled a case for $400,000 for a ride-share passenger injured in a rear-end accident and $287,500 for a driver injured by a dump truck in Cecil County, Maryland that was settled in less than a year. Moreover, take a brief look online at our hundreds of five-star reviews. Hear what former and current clients say about the team at Adam Smilow Injury Lawyers and the help they received. Real cases, real people. Quality medical care, consistent communication, and a legal team that always shows up for its clients. So, A to Z, here's what it looks like. You call, we answer. We listen. If we can help, you sign and we get started. We offer you access to five-star medical care, real providers, and not the car accident injury centers. We build the case and stay ahead of the insurance companies every step of the way. We call the shots, not them, when it comes to obtaining a maximum settlement on your behalf. We don't play their games and engage in bad faith settlement negotiations. We file lawsuits when necessary. We don't threaten. We don't use it as a negotiating tactic. We file, and we file, and we file. And after we file, we typically settle well in advance of a trial for maximum compensation. It's that simple when you hire Adam Smallow Injury Lawyers to represent you after a car truck accident. Our mission is to disrupt the practice of personal injury law by offering clients access to five-star medical care and providing unsurpassed communication with their legal team. That is our mission every day. But it goes deeper than that. I started this law firm in 2010 out of a small walk-up office in Baltimore City, Maryland. No team, no marketing budget, no reputation, just a genuine belief that injured people in Maryland were not getting what they deserved. That too many of them were being undertreated and not receiving comprehensive and skilled medical care. They were being pressured into settling for far less compensation than they deserved. It was like their cases were on a conveyor belt at a fast food restaurant. Same ingredients, same burger, every time. I wanted to build something different. And 16 years later, that mission is more important than ever. That's why I still do this. It's what drives everyone on this team. And it's the standard to which we hold ourselves every single day. I'm attorney Adam Smallow from Hurt to Help. That's our promise to you.