What does a personal injury lawyer do? It’s one of the most commonly asked questions I get: What is your day-to-day job as a personal injury attorney like?
I try and explain to people that it is just not possible to sum up an entire career in one or two sentences. The short answer, however, is that my days are spent handling major car accident cases and other cases where injury has occurred from someone else’s negligence.
Everyone who has ever worked with me in any capacity will tell you that I am a hard worker and always make sure to give it my all on behalf of my clients, but even those closest to me do not know exactly what goes into each day at work. This is because nothing about this job is ever typical – one day I may be working on one case, and the next day something completely different may pop up that needs attention. That’s just how it is in this business.
Another reason why everyone asks me about what a personal injury attorney does is because they want to see if they’d like working as an injury lawyer themselves. I always tell them that they would. It’s not everyday that you come across people who work as hard as we do to ensure that their clients get what they deserve, while also having a good time doing it.
Here is a sampling of things I might be expected to do in any given day:
Meet with clients and insurance companies; meet with doctors and other experts; meet with other lawyers on cases we are working on; try to negotiate settlements for clients if the case has been going on too long or if there seems like there is no hope of getting the compensation they rightfully deserve; go to court with the client when needed, and handle depositions.
I am sure most people reading this article will not find it surprising at all that the number one thing I do though is communicate.
I talk to my clients all day… and then I talk to other lawyers on cases we are working on… and then possibly more communication with the client after a doctor’s appointment in their case to find out how things went, or how they feel about their treatment plan so far; communicating messages back and forth between insurance companies and law firms; talking with adjusters who may not want to hear what we have to say but need to know it anyway; emailing people involved in cases with details regarding medical records, additional information that has come in since we last talked, etc.; making phone calls involving these same things. The list goes on, but if there is one thing I can say with certainty it’s that communication is the key to success in this field.
So when you ask me what a personal injury lawyer does, and I respond with “I talk all day,” don’t be surprised. It’s just how we do business!
