What You Need To Know About Personal Injury Law

jmachie
June 18, 2013

Personal injury is an area of the law that we should all be aware of, but why? Here are just a few reasons, which include the following:

Accidents happen to all of us.
When they happen to you, the area of personal injury law is there to help.
The area of personal injury law kicks in if you are the victim of an accident that happened because of someone else’s negligence, or carelessness.
However, there is no suit without injury. This means even if an accident happened, if you weren’t hurt, then there is nothing that personal injury law can do for you.

Now, you know a little something about personal injury law and when it can help you– and when it can’t.

In addition, finding a good, experienced personal injury lawyer is the first step in really getting the financial compensation you need to help speed along your medical recovery. If you are unable to file your own lawsuit, then you can have a family member, friend, or loved one file one on your behalf. Either way, personal injury lawyers work with a variety of people involved in a variety of personal injury accidents, many of which are common:

Road accidents.
Workplace accidents.
Wrongful death.
Products liability.
Birth injury.

If you got or get into an accident, then contact a personal injury lawyer as soon as you can to go over your accident while it is still fresh in your mind and not barred by time limits. For example, the Statute of Limitations is a time limit that means if two years (or more in some States) pass, then you can no longer file your personal injury case.

Furthermore, when choosing a personal injury lawyer, you should consider the following:

Location
Experience
Success rate
Professionalism
Personality
Personable

Thankfully, lawyers usually offer a free case evaluation or a free consultation to help offset the initial costs of pursuing legal justice. These will help you know whether you have a personal injury case, and if so, then then how to go about not just filling it but winning it based on its strengths and weaknesses, helping you determine whether your personal injury lawsuit will be worth it.

After filing your personal injury lawsuit, you might end up in a courtroom. However, these days the legal system is turning away from traditional litigation, which is often expensive and timely, and to alternative dispute resolution processes: negotiation, mediation, and arbitration. Therefore, your personal injury lawsuit is likely to take you to the negotiation or mediation tables where it will be important to know your interests and the interests of the other side. Negotiating and mediating based on interests will allow you to reach the best settlement in the shortest amount of time.

Here it is also important to have a lawyer experienced in alternative dispute resolution, because the attitude and skills required in these processes are different from the ones a typical trial lawyer will have based on his or her experience in the courtroom.

Jennifer Machie writes for Paul Colley of Colley & Colley, LLP.