Yes - in Washington, you can usually change lawyers at any point, even if the injury case is already a year old.

The big myth is that switching lawyers "restarts" the case or kills it. It does not. Your deadline stays the same. For most Washington injury claims, the lawsuit deadline is 3 years from the injury date under RCW 4.16.080.

What does trip people up is the government-claim rule. If your Vancouver pothole injury involves a city street, you usually must first file a tort claim with the City of Vancouver and then wait 60 calendar days before suing under RCW 4.96.020. If it happened on a Clark County road, the claim goes to the county. If it was on a state route, I-5 ramp, bridge approach, or other WSDOT roadway, that is a different claim path. People who moved from other states often miss that Washington makes you identify the right public entity first.

A new lawyer can step in and take over the file, but do not assume the old lawyer hands everything over neatly or quickly. Ask for:

• the full case file
• all claim forms already filed
• medical records and billing
• photos, witness info, and roadway complaints
• confirmation of the exact statute of limitations date

Also, switching lawyers does not usually mean you pay two full contingency fees. In Washington, the prior lawyer may assert a lien for the value of work already done, and that gets sorted out between attorneys or from the final recovery.

If your case is about a deteriorated road surface, frost heave, or repeated pothole complaints, delay matters because maintenance logs, repair records, and notice evidence can disappear or get harder to obtain. A year old is not automatically "too late," but a bad lawyer does not stop the clock.