Personal Injury Law

A personal injury lawyer is a lawyer who provides legal services to those who claim to have been injured, physically or psychologically, as a result of the negligence of another person, company, government agency or any entity. Personal injury lawyers primarily practice in the area of law known as tort law. Examples of common personal injury claims include injuries from slip and fall accidents, traffic collisions, defective products, workplace injuries and professional malpractice.

Lawyers may concentrate their practice to specific areas of law, including personal injury law.Some lawyers may further specialize to a specific area of personal injury, such as medical malpractice law. By limiting the range of cases they handle, personal injury lawyers are able to acquire specialized knowledge and experience.

Client relations

Before accepting a new case, a personal injury lawyer typically interviews a prospective client and evaluates the client’s case to determine the basic facts and potential legal claims that might be made, identifies possible defendants, and evaluates the strength of the case.A lawyer may decline to accept a case if the lawyer believes that the legal claims will not succeed in court, if the cost of litigation is expected to exceed the amount that can reasonably be recovered from the defendants as compensation for the client’s injury.

Compensation

Lawyer fees may be charged in a number of ways, including contingency fees, hourly rates, and flat fees. In many countries, personal injury lawyers work primarily on a contingency fee basis, sometimes called an if-come fee, through which the lawyer receives a percentage of a client’s recovery as a fee, but does not recover a fee if the claim is not successful.

The term “trial lawyers” is used to refer to personal injury lawyers, even though many other types of lawyers, including defense lawyers and criminal prosecutors also appear in trials and even though most personal injury claims are settled without going to trial.