Friday, December 11, 2009

The Difference Between Personal Injury Law and Other Types of Law Practice

By Tony Garrudo

One of the foremost differences between personal injury law and other areas of practice is that it requires a financial investment. In personal injury law, the attorney must make the initial financial investment to prepare the case for trial and the only way to recoup the money is to win at trial or settle the case for a substantial sum.Personal injury lawyers invest a lot of time into a case and may not be compensated for all the hours they work. Various experts, i.e., medical, engineering and even accident reconstructionists must often be hired by the lawyer to provide expert testimony in Court.

If an attorney is handling a large load of cases, he would have difficulty managing the people he needs for court and getting them paid in a timely manner. Therefore, a PI lawyer has to gather funds together in order to be able handle these cases. Since there are many personal and financial risks involved, you should take some time to reflect and determine if you can handle the difficulties the accompany a career as a personal injury lawyer.

Getting a verdict in favor of you client is more difficult when handling a personal injury case. There are a number of states that are implementing "tort reforms" that will limit the number of claims an injured person can bring into court. Also, many corporate defendants and insurance companies are not as motivated to settle the case before going to trial. This means that you will have to cover the expenses of filing fees when filing a lawsuit and also pay for expert witnesses, depositions, and other court costs and you may also have to wait a long time for the court to make a decision. Unfortunately, because the process is so long, several clients will wind up settling for a small portion of what their case is actually worth.

The general public does not have a very good opinion of personal injury litigation; however, winning a trial makes it all worthwhile. There are always news reports of various conspiracies and scams which lawyers are engaged in with treating doctors and their clients. On the other hand, there is nothing more exciting than an injured underdog taking on a huge corporation or insurance company and winning at trial.

There are many different individuals who practice personal injury litigation for various reason; however, this can be one of the most fulfilling types of law practice because it allows an attorney to assist individuals who have truly been injured.

About the Author:

No comments: