What are Injury Lawyers?

In this article:

• What is a Personal Injury Lawyer?
• What Kinds of Cases Do Injury Lawyers Handle?
• Why Do People Become Injury Lawyers?
• What Kind of Training Do Injury Lawyers Have?
• What Are Some of the Common Tasks of a Personal Injury Lawyer?
• What Else Can I Expect from a Personal Injury Lawyer?

A personal injury lawyer is a common term for an attorney who specializes in personal injury law. Note that I said specialize. True injury lawyers will handle strictly those lawsuits that deal with personal injury law. Be wary of “personal injury lawyers” that also practicing divorce, wills, and criminal law. You will find that they do not fully and truly qualify as injury lawyers.

Generally speaking, injury lawyers can handle any kind of motor vehicle accident case. Whether it involves a car, truck, bus, boat, or motorcycle, they can handle it. They also handle cases involving negligence. These can be because of doctors or hospitals. These also include injuries obtained while on the job, and injuries relating to medications.

When someone suffers a traumatic injury, an injury lawyer is usually one of the first people to call. For a more complete list of the types of cases that personal injury lawyers handle, see the following link on my website.

One of the key hallmarks of personal injury lawyers is curiosity. Injury lawyers typically have an insatiable curiosity about their clients and the incident they are involved with. They are also very interested in psychology, medicine, theater, and the laws surrounding each.

Some people can spend their lives studying just one topic and be content. Injury lawyers, on the other hand, find contentment in challenging their intellect. They do this by having a good understanding of many different areas. This is necessary in order for injury lawyers to be successful on behalf of their clients.

Like other attorneys, injury lawyers need to take and pass the bar in their state of practice. Of course, this comes after completing a J.D. degree from an accredited law school. Passing the bar, however, is simply the start of an injury lawyer’s training.

These lawyers need to be well-grounded in medicine and anatomy. They often take advanced courses in medicine, physiology, and anatomy. They need to become experts in biomechanics. Injury lawyers also need to stay up-to-date with current procedures and practices. This requires continuous training in these fields. It's important for them to have a drive for acquiring knowledge and the ability to use it.

They should also be well-grounded in the school of “hard knocks”, and have a real feel for their clients. A major factor is discerning whether or not the clients or experts will be persuasive before a jury.

Client interaction. An injury lawyer is often dealing with people in pain, or who have suffered serious physical and emotional losses. Clients have often stressed out and a cycle of pain, anxiety, and depression results where the clients may not be at their best.  An injury lawyer needs to be a steady presence. They are responsible for guiding their client through the legal process caringly and successfully. He or she should be empathetic and understanding. It is important for the lawyer to take the time to know the client and the client's friends and family. Without knowledge of the client and his or her personality and losses, there is no way he or she can successfully hope to resolve a case.

Liability. An injury lawyer needs to be familiar with accident reconstruction. They have access to re-constructionist and traffic engineers when legal responsibility is contested. If it is a motor vehicle accident, you will most likely meet with a re-constructionist. An injury lawyer should visit the scene of every accident, interview witnesses, and see if the police report has the facts correct (they often do not!)

Here's a quick video describing how event reconstruction is achieved:

Causation. In addition to interviewing clients and witnesses, the injury lawyer needs to possess good common sense as he has the burden to prove that a client’s injuries were caused by the accident. Causation in a legal sense means "more probable than not". Often, medical personnel think of causation as they were taught it in medical school as "scientific certainty." This is not the legal standard and it is important that the lawyer communicate the difference adequately to the medical personnel.

Damages. If the client's case goes before a jury, the lawyer will ask the panel to "fix what can be fixed, help what can be helped, and make up for what cannot be fixed or helped". The treating doctors, with the injury lawyers prompting, will testify what caused the client’s injuries. They will also attest to the reasonableness of the medical bills. If future medical bills are likely, he will hire a Life Care Planner (a nurse with advanced training in medical economics) to explain the expected value of those future bills. The injury lawyer will also hire an economist to reduce future bills to present value.

Curious about what our life care planners can do? Check out this video:

If the client has lost wages or will lose wages in the future, the injury lawyer will have a vocational rehabilitation specialist discuss how the client’s earning capacity has been impacted and limits his or her future earnings.

Finally, injury lawyers will ask the jury to do what they can to make the client whole. To make up for any pain and suffering the client has endured in the past and is likely to suffer in the future.

Even if you decide not to choose me as your injury lawyer at this time, please take a moment to watch this helpful Youtube video I created on How to Select the Right Injury Lawyer for you.

I'm Ed Smith of www.AutoAccident.com. If you have been injured due to the negligence of someone else, please call me today at 916.921.6400 or 800.404.5400 for free, friendly advice. I have worked exclusively in personal injury law since 1982.

We are members of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum and the National Association of Distinguished Counsel.

See our client reviews on Avvo, Google, and Yelp, and our past cases on our Verdicts and Settlements page.

Editor’s Note: This page has been updated for accuracy and relevancy [cha 10.9.20]

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