Let’s face it, the legal system in the United States is incredibly complicated. There are a lot of things to know about it, and the language that is used in laws and statutes can cause more than a little confusion in your everyday Jane or Joe that’s trying to read them. Fortunately, there are people in all fields of law that have dedicated their lives to helping people navigate this complicated system. It’s just as easy to find a criminal justice lawyer as it is to find a personal injury lawyer on any given day.
That being said, people that practice personal injury law are often misunderstood. A lot of people can immediately tell what a criminal lawyer does, a family lawyer, or even a medical malpractice lawyer. When going to court for a personal injury claim, most people assume that it would be easier and cheaper to represent themself. After all, if they were injured, there’s a good chance that all the evidence a judge would need is either visible by looking at the person or in medical records that can be gathered from medical facilities. Let’s take a look at what these lawyers do so you can better understand how they can help.
Have an Expert on Your Side
These days, it seems like everyone’s an expert. Whether you’re talking to your Uncle Roger or your co-worker, they seem to have a vast and deep understanding of how the legal system works. Even if they do claim to have some vast and intrinsic knowledge of how the legal system works, unless they’ve passed the bar exam they really aren’t qualified to give you any advice. You wouldn’t take health advice from your plumber or plumbing advice from your doctor, so it is a little odd that we’re all so ready to take legal advice from people that aren’t experts in the field.
Lawyers have to spend a long time in school learning everything they can about the legal system. That includes the standard kindergarten through 12th grade, followed by a minimum of 4 years of undergraduate school, and then 3 more years of law school. Of course, not every lawyer has to take this path, but it is incredibly helpful for ensuring that they can actually gain the ability to legally practice law in their state or the states in which they want to practice law.
The reason that so much schooling is so helpful is that after all of that schooling is done before one can even think about entering a courtroom they have to pass the Bar exam. This test really blows other tests out of the water. It’s one of the most difficult tests in the world and every single lawyer has to pass it in order to be certified to practice law. This test is so intense that people, even after spending 7 years studying law, fail it very often. In fact, half of the first-time takers of the bar exam fail.
That means that about half of the people that know enough to be considered experts in their field. To put this more into perspective, the test is so hard that people that have studied the subject long enough to get a doctorate fail the Bar exam about half the time on their first attempt. That just goes to show how well lawyers have to know the subject in order to represent you in a court of law, and with that kind of expertise comes a lot of benefits that we’ll cover in the next sections.
Before we move on, there is another type of expertise that is brought to the table by hiring a personal injury lawyer to represent you. That is experience actually doing cases in a court. All the knowledge in the world won’t make you a good lawyer if you don’t know how to properly handle a case in practice. It’s a kind of a book smarts vs street smarts type of situation. When you hire a lawyer, you’re hiring someone that has had to do these kinds of cases pretty frequently and they understand the complicated nature of court cases.
Get a Bigger Payout on Average
A lot of people want to avoid getting lawyers involved because they’re expensive. We know it, you know it, everyone knows that lawyers aren’t cheap. This makes most people assume that they’re better off without an attorney, especially if they have a solid case. They assume that the legal system will take care of them and they’ll get the amount that they rightfully deserve once they win their case. Of course, sometimes that is the case and the judge will award you as much as you deserve for your injuries and you can move on.
Unfortunately, that’s not always the case. Sometimes you can end up fumbling and losing solid cases because you didn’t know what you were doing, and sometimes you can leave a lot of money on the table because you didn’t fully understand what you could get paid out. Lawyers can be pretty aggressive for their clients. You’re paying them a lot of money to be aggressive for you, and because of that, they can ensure that you get the highest possible payout for your court case. They know what they’re doing and they want you to walk out of the court with as much money as you possibly can.
This is for a number of reasons. They want to be sure that you’re happy with their services because that means more potential business for them in the future, but many lawyers that practice personal injury law deduct a percentage of your payout as a payment. That means that the more money you get, the more money they get. That means that they are highly motivated to both help you and help themselves, and that can mean some wonderful things for both of your pocketbooks once you’ve won the case.
Lawyers know where they can put pressure to get the most money out of the case. They know when to highball so they have some room to go down in negotiations, and they’ll think of things for you get paid for that you might not have thought of in a hundred years. Time from work lost, mental agony, emotional distress, and all sorts of things. Lawyers have a lot of tricks in their bag and their collections only continue to grow as they get more and more experience handling these kinds of cases for people that need them the most.
Have a Higher Chance of Avoiding Court Altogether
Do you know where most people would prefer to avoid spending a good deal of time? Inside of a courtroom. The atmosphere is often tense, it can feel stuffy, and there are all sorts of people that are having terrible days that are all in one building. Most people would prefer to avoid having to sit in court all day or even for days trying to get something settled for their case, and sometimes it’s entirely unavoidable because of the circumstances surrounding the situation. It definitely happens all the time and it can be hard.
By hiring a lawyer to handle your personal injury case, you have a higher chance of your opponent settling out of court. These out-of-court settlements can be great for both parties, depending on who the defendant is in the case. If it’s a business, it means that they just have to give you some money and they admit no wrongdoing. That works out for them because it doesn’t blemish their reputation, and for most prosecutors, it works out because they get a good-sized payout without having to deal with a court case. That means more time they can spend at home recovering.
Out-of-court settlements also help to ensure a speedy end to the court case. Sometimes court cases of this nature can take years, and when that happens your court fees can pile up. In most cases, you won’t have to worry about that long of a case, but some defendants would rather make a court case last a very long time so they can price you out of your position and force you to drop your case. Having a lawyer on your side can help you make sure that you can even get out-of-court settlements that are favorable for you.
Get Represented by the Best
Hiring a lawyer can feel a little daunting, but worry not. It can be an easy process and most lawyers will even allow you a consultation so you can be sure that they’re a good fit. This whole experience can be scary and stressful, having someone who knows what they’re doing can make a world of difference and can leave you with bigger payouts and less stress throughout the entirety of the process. That makes hiring a lawyer a good idea for any personal injury case that you may have pending.