A personal injury lawyer can be defined as a lawyer who provides legal representation to plaintiffs who have undergone physical or psychological harm as a result of negligence of another person, organisation or entity.
Personal injury lawyers specialize in a type of civil law called Tort Law. This includes lawsuits based on injuries caused on the plaintiff’s body, property or general well-being.A tort can simply be defined as a civil wrong. Torts are grounds for civil lawsuits for compensation on damages or injuries suffered. Personal injury lawyers assist their clients to acquire compensation for loss caused by factors such as termination of employment, medical expenses, emotional distress or legal expenses.
Other types of personal injuries include:
- Automobile accidents
- Boating accidents
- Slip-and-fall accidents
- Medical accidents
- defamation
- Wrongful imprisonment
- Product malfunction accidents
- Wrongful death
With the assistance of an injury lawyer you can directly hold someone else responsible for your injuries.
Personal injury lawsuits
Most personal injury law suits involve negligence. The lawyer is tasked with gathering enough evidence to prove that the injury encountered was as a result of another person’s negligence.
Intentional harm means that a person deliberately caused either bodily or psychological harm on another person. Examples of this are domestic violence, sexual assault and wrongful imprisonment.
Strict liability is another legal term that refers to holding an entity responsible for injury caused by product malfunctions or hazardous activities.Under a strict liability tort, in civil law, an enterprise can be held responsible for the intended or unintended harmful result of its activities.
What are the skills possessed by a personal injury lawyer?
Often personal injury lawyers specialize in handling certain cases. The lawyer can either handle cases involving medical malpractice or automobile accidents. This is because some lawsuits are usually quite complex necessitating specialization.
To be effective in their work personal injury lawyers should possess some particular skills:
- Excellent oral and verbal communication skills.
- A good logical approach to situations.
- High level of commitment to work and clients.
- A good judge of characters to discern clients and their intentions when they file a lawsuit.
- A creative mind when trying to solve cases.
- Great research and investigative skills.
These skills add a great value to the reputation of a personal injury lawyer. The most successful personal injury lawyers also excel in negotiation skills and in attaining specialized knowledge in particular an issue which makes them exceptional consultants.
Personal injury lawyers play a big role in assisting victims and their families to find justice through a difficult legal system. However, it is essential to note that tort laws are different in different regions. It is therefore important to ensure the personal injury lawyer consulted has experience in that particular jurisdiction.