Personal Injury Lawyer: What a Good One Can Do For You

If you're thinking of challenging an insurance company or private party for negligence that led to your accident, you need a personal injury lawyer by your side. Without the experience, skill, and education that comes with the profession, you'll have a hard time persuading a company or individual to part with the money to which you may be entitled. The good thing about hiring an attorney in this case (as opposed to hiring one in a criminal case) is that you usually don't have to spend a dime of your own money. The good attorneys work on a contingency basis, which means they get paid a percentage of the eventual judgment or settlement. But what does such an attorney do for you?

Collects Evidence

A court case stands little chance of being successful if there is no evidence to bring before the jury. Even if a case never goes to court, a personal injury lawyer will need to collect evidence to proceed with negotiations or even arbitration. While there's nothing preventing a layman such as yourself from collecting evidence (and you will probably be counted on to present some of it, including your own testimony), you may not have the experience and education necessary to determine what facts are relevant, which ones help your case, and which ones may be better left to the defendants.

Negotiation

A layman attempting to go into negotiations with an insurance company is going to be in over his head in no time at all. Keep in mind that you probably won't be speaking to company representatives at all, but rather their lawyers. Every aspect of the incident will be downplayed through their eyes. Though they will be quick to sympathize with you, they will not give one inch beyond their version of the events that took place. This version may vary wildly from your own. Because you haven't hired a personal injury lawyer, they have little incentive to give in to your demands. What is there to fear?

Advice

This aspect of a personal injury lawyer's duties often goes overlooked, but it is one of the most important roles they play. Sometimes a client needs to be told when to give up. Sometimes they need to be told when to move forward and fight. If you have no experience with the court system and the complicated field of settlement negotiations, you won't know where those benchmarks lie. Having an experienced partner in your battle makes all the difference.