10 Questions to Ask a Dog Bite Lawyer in Austin
Most people hiring a dog bite lawyer have never hired one before, and the marketing all sounds the same. These are the questions that actually tell you something—ask any lawyer you’re considering, including us.
1. Do you handle dog bite and premises liability cases specifically?
Personal injury covers a lot of ground, and dog bite cases have their own wrinkles—Texas’s strict-liability and negligence theories, homeowner’s insurance mechanics, animal control records, rabies-observation timelines. A lawyer who’s handled these specifically will have answers ready; one who hasn’t will speak in generalities.
2. What’s your fee, and what counts as a “cost”?
Almost every personal injury lawyer works on contingency—no fee unless they recover money for you. That’s standard, not a special offer. What varies is whether case costs (filing fees, records requests, expert witnesses) come out of your share regardless of outcome, or only if you win. Get this in writing before you sign anything.
3. Who will actually work on my case?
At a larger firm, your case may be handled day-to-day by a case manager or junior associate, with the named attorney appearing only at major milestones. That’s not necessarily wrong, but you should know it going in. At a solo practice like ours, you deal directly with the attorney—which has real tradeoffs both ways, and you should ask any firm which model they use.
4. How do you value a claim like mine?
A real answer references specific categories—medical bills, lost wages, future treatment, pain and suffering—and explains that they can’t give you a number without your medical records and the facts of the incident. Be skeptical of anyone who names a dollar figure in the first conversation. Texas’s rules on lawyer advertising and communications exist precisely because promising a result before reviewing the case creates expectations no one can honestly back up.
5. What’s the timeline, realistically?
Cases that settle without a lawsuit can resolve in a few months once treatment is complete. Cases that go to litigation take longer—often a year or more. Anyone who promises a fast resolution before knowing whether the insurer will cooperate is guessing.
6. How do you handle the insurance company?
This is where the real work happens. Ask whether they’ll identify every policy that could apply (homeowner’s, renters’, umbrella, a landlord’s policy), and whether they’ll let you talk to the adjuster directly. You generally shouldn’t—a recorded statement to the insurer is not in your interest, and a lawyer who lets you give one unprepared isn’t protecting you.
7. What happens if the dog’s owner has no insurance?
A straight answer acknowledges this is a real, common problem—Texas doesn’t require homeowners or renters to carry liability insurance—and explains the options: pursuing the owner’s personal assets, checking for other applicable coverage (a landlord’s policy, for instance), or, in some cases, using your own health insurance or MedPay coverage to get bills paid while the claim proceeds. Our dog bite insurance claims page goes through this in more detail.
8. What should I bring to the first consultation?
Photos of the injury and scene, the dog owner’s contact and insurance information (if you have it), medical records and bills so far, the Austin Animal Protection bite report if one was filed, and a written timeline of what happened while it’s fresh.
9. What do you need from me going forward?
Ongoing medical records, receipts, and a note of anything that affects your recovery (missed work, new symptoms). The lawyer’s job is to build the case; yours is mainly to keep documenting and follow your treatment.
10. What happens if we don’t settle?
Ask directly whether the firm actually takes cases to trial or tends to settle regardless of the offer. A firm that never litigates has less leverage in negotiation, because the insurer knows it.
A word on picking based on marketing
Superlatives like “top-rated” or “best in Austin” are marketing, not evidence—Texas’s rules on lawyer advertising specifically bar language likely to create unjustified expectations about outcomes. What you can actually check: how the firm answers the questions above, how the initial consultation feels, and whether they’re straightforward when the honest answer is “it depends.”
Talk to us
We handle dog bite cases directly with Andrew Traub—no case manager hand-off. Call (512) 246-9191 or request a free consultation and ask us these same questions. There’s no fee unless we recover for you.
For how a dog bite claim actually works—the legal theories and the two-year deadline—see our Austin dog bite lawyer page. For how insurance pays a claim, see dog bite insurance claims in Texas.
This article is general information, not legal advice about your specific situation.
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