We know how troubling this time is for you. You need an attorney, and we are doing our best to make it easy to find one, quickly.
We've also prepared a guide for you on how to hire the right attorney for your personal injury case (turns out there are plenty of things people wish they had known before hiring a lawyer):
Your First Meeting with an Attorney
A worksheet to prepare for your first meeting with a personal injury attorney – what to bring, what they'll ask
Download in PDF format
Documents & Evidence Checklist
Checklist of 30 items to help you prepare for making a personal injury or accident claim
Download in PDF format
Personal Injury Attorney Interview Sheet
Worksheet with questions to ask a personal injury attorney to help determine if he or she will be a good fit for your case
Download in PDF format
Post-Accident Journal Form
Sample accident journal/diary to help you document the effect on your daily life
Download in PDF format
A personal injury attorney gives legal representation to plaintiffs who say they were injured due to the negligent acts of another person or entity.
Personal injury attorneys specialize in ‘tort law.' The goal of tort law is to make the injured person ‘whole' again and to dissuade others from committing similar offenses. Personal injury attorneys help their clients to obtain compensation for their losses. Some of the losses they can help you recover include:
A personal injury attorney helps you to obtain financial justice using the civil court system in your state.
When you agree to be represented by a personal injury attorney, he or she will help you to calculate some or all of the above damages for your case.
With that figure in mind, your attorney will attempt to settle the case, or may take it to trial if she thinks that is your best course of action.
The term personal injury encompasses a broad range of civil litigation. Any case that involves physical or mental injury would be handled by a personal injury attorney. Common case types are:
Auto accidents come in all shapes and sizes. Whether the accident involves a car, truck, motorcycle, pedestrian or bicyclist, you'll likely require the knowledge of a car accident attorney to establish fault in the event that legal action is taken by or against you.
All manufactured products must pass safety standards by government agencies, which is why we expect the goods we buy to be safe for us and our kids. However, sometimes defective products and contaminated food slip through the cracks, causing serious injury to consumers. A defective products attorney can help you determine if personal injury from such defects entitles your family to compensation.
Proving fault in slip and fall lawsuits is often just as difficult auto accidents, if not more so. In order to show that a property owner is liable for your injuries, the law states you must prove they were aware of the hazard (or should have been aware of the hazard) but failed to take appropriate action and that the hazard directly led to your injury.
Finding a slip and fall attorney who can help establish premises liability is an important first step in resolving these types of cases.
The worst injury of all is that which results in a loss of life. Whether a wrongful death occurs from a violent crime or negligence, it is imperative that the surviving husband, wife, siblings, children or relatives appoint a skilled wrongful death attorney who understands all the complexities of filing a wrongful death lawsuit in their state and who provide the best chance at receiving financial compensation for this tragic loss.
Each of these cases present different complexities. You should seek out an experienced personal injury lawyer with years of experience in your type of accident and injury.
While personal injury law firms may be a dime a dozen, it takes a truly skilled legal team to navigate the rough waters of state-specific laws, lengthy courtroom trials and settlements. An experienced injury lawyer may even be able to help your resolve your legal issues without going to court.
If you think you have been hurt in accident caused by someone else, you will need to prove fault to obtain compensation for your injuries. It usually is a wise idea to hire an experienced personal injury attorney to establish that the other party was negligent in the accident. A personal injury attorney has the training and the experience with the complicated field of personal injury law to increase the chances that the other party will be found at fault.
Whether someone is liable for your injuries will hinge upon whether there was a ‘duty of care' to protect against injuries for a person who was not expected to be there when the accident took place.
Your attorney will try to establish that the other person had a duty of care in the case of your accident, and he or she did not take ‘reasonable care' to avoid injury to you.
One of the most important things that a good personal injury lawyer will do for you is to determine if you are better off settling or going to court. The vast majority of personal injury lawsuits are settled out of court. There are many reasons for this:
Regardless of how the accident happened, your attorney will strive to obtain fair and just compensation for your injuries. She will do so be applying one or several simple legal principles:
Your attorney does not need to prove anything. She only needs to make a reasonable argument that the other party was at fault and liable for your injuries.
By applying these legal principles, your attorney can help you to negotiate a fair settlement for your accident case. Or, she will help you to prepare a strong legal case to take to trial so that you have the highest possible chance of prevailing before a jury.
We hope that this information helps you to find a good personal injury attorney for your case. Please let us know how it goes!