What does a personal injury lawyer really do?
While you’ve likely heard jokes, it’s unlikely that you’ve ever engaged such an attorney’s services. After all, most people are lucky – they don’t get injured in such a way that makes a lawyer necessary. If you do fall victim to such an injury, though, it’s a good idea to learn what a good personal injury lawyer can do for you.
The obvious answer, of course, is that an injury lawyer represents a person when he or she is injured. It would be lovely if the world worked in such a way that it automatically compensated people when they are hurt due to another’s fault, but that’s just not reality. Instead, injured people have to deal with a system that seems to thrive not on doing the right thing, but rather on shifting blame. A good lawyer helps an injured person stand up to the system so that he or she can get what he or she deserves.
According to legal theory, a person who is injured due to another’s fault is due compensation so that he or she can be returned to the state that he or she was in before the incident. To get there, though, a great deal of work has to be done. Documents must be gathered, motions must be filed, and relevant laws must be researched. Figuring out not just what a client is owed but how to reach the point of compensation is one of the primary jobs of a personal injury lawyer.
What are the duties of a personal injury lawyer?
At a basic level, he or she provides advice. He or she looks at the personal injury suit and helps the victim determine who, if anyone, was at fault.
Once this is done, the lawyer helps to procure the proper evidence of the wrong-doing, often including helping to find witnesses or contacting the police to get relevant reports from the scene of the accident. The lawyer will also be the person when it comes to dealing with the court, filing documents in a timely manner and ultimately being the person who represents the victim when it comes time to bring the case forward.
A person injury attorney also looks out the for the best interests of his or her clients. It is often the case that an insurance company will contact a victim of an accident to make an offer of restitution. This will only happen if there is a clear case of a fault, of course, and the compensation offer is often far less than what the victim deserves. The attorney will work with the victim to determine if taking the compensation is actually the right move, and he or she may even work with the victim to negotiate with the insurance company to get a better settlement. No matter what happens, though, the attorney will work to make sure that his or her client is not taken advantage of by a business entity that is only interested in protecting its own bottom line.
It is perhaps most fair to look at a personal injury attorney as an injury victim’s primary advocate and ally after an accident has occurred. Yes, the lawyer will represent the victim in court – but he or she will do so much more. The lawyer will help his or her client when dealing with the financial difficulties that come from being injured, including finding methods of getting rightful compensation. The lawyer will be the person who seeks to make the client financially whole once again. A good injury lawyer is so much more than an ambulance chaser – he or she is a vital part of putting his or her client’s life back together.
