Content reviewed by:
Alex Shulman
Injured in a situation where someone else was at fault? You might be eligible for financial compensation.
There are many situations where you might find yourself in need of a personal injury lawyer. According to the CDC, there are 97.9 million yearly trips to the emergency room in the U.S. for accidents and unforeseen injuries. In 2020, accidental injury deaths were the number four cause of death in the country.
When medical bills begin to pile up and you have to take time off from work to recover, speaking to a personal injury lawyer can help you recover some of your financial stability that may have been jeopardized by the accident. Pursuing a personal injury lawsuit can help hold someone else accountable for the harm they may have caused.
If you have questions about how to find the best personal injury lawyer for your situation, the experienced team at Shulman & Hill is available to help you navigate the process. Contact us today for a no-cost, no-obligation legal consultation and see how we can help.
What is a Personal Injury Lawyer?
A personal injury lawyer practices tort law, a kind of civil lawsuit designed to help people recover financially from harm. If you or your property was harmed by someone else’s actions or by their failure to act, then they may be considered liable for some of the financial burden that they have imposed on you.
What Does a Personal Injury Lawyer Do?
A personal injury lawyer assesses the facts of your case, gathers evidence to support your claim, liaises with medical professionals, negotiates with insurance companies, files your claim and lawsuit, and more. If for any reason a successful settlement cannot be reached, a personal injury lawyer can go to trial representing your best interests and acting on your behalf.
Some of the benefits of hiring a personal injury lawyer include not only possibly receiving a higher financial award, but also being able to take time away from navigating bureaucracy to focus on your own recovery. The most important thing you can do in the aftermath of an accident is to heal; a personal injury lawyer can help alleviate your stress and advise you on the best steps to take to ensure a successful outcome.
How Can a Personal Injury Lawyer Help After an Accident?
In a personal injury lawsuit, you can seek compensation from the liable party for certain kinds of financial and non-financial damages. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- Medical care: One of the most common categories of financial compensation in a personal injury case is the repayment of medical bills and expenses. Medical bills may arise in the immediate aftermath of the accident, such as the cost of an ambulance trip, emergency room treatments, surgery, and/or diagnostic tests. However, a good personal injury lawyer can also help you receive reimbursement for future or ongoing medical costs, such as physical therapy or rehabilitative treatments.
- Loss of income: If you have to take time off from work to recover from your injuries, you may eligible to sue for loss of income in a personal injury lawsuit. Missing out on income from an accident where someone else was at fault can be particularly difficult. A personal injury lawyer can help you recover some of your lost wages.
- Loss of property: If your property or goods were damaged or destroyed in an accident, you may be able to recoup the cost of replacing them or receive compensation for the loss of value. For example, if you were injured in a car accident, the damage done to your car might be included in a personal injury lawsuit against the negligent driver.
- Pain and suffering: Being injured in an accident can be traumatic in more ways than just the physical and financial. In many accidents, the victim may, unfortunately, undergo a certain degree of pain and suffering. These qualities can be difficult to quantify, and no amount of money can ever make up for the harm done. However, an experienced personal injury lawyer will be able to seek the appropriate amount of damages to help make a positive difference in your life in the aftermath of an accident.
What Types of Injuries Might Require a Personal Injury Lawyer?
Depending on the kind of accident that you have undergone, you may be seeking out a slip and fall lawyer, dog bite injury lawyer, construction accident lawyer, or more. The good news is that personal injury law encompasses many different kinds of accidents. An established law firm like Shulman & Hill has many different kinds of personal injury lawyers who specialize in unique fields and bring years of experience to the injured New Yorkers that they represent.
Some types of injuries that might require a personal injury lawyer include, but are by no means limited to:
- Car accidents
- Truck accidents
- Bicycle accidents
- Pedestrian accidents
- Construction accidents
- Motorcycle accidents
- Trips, slips, and falls
- Taxi, Uber, and Lyft accidents
How to Find a Personal Injury Lawyer
1. Ask Friends & Acquaintances: If you have friends or acquaintances who have successfully filed a personal injury lawsuit, asking them for a recommendation may be a good place to begin. Hopefully, your loved ones have never been in an accident serious enough to warrant filing a personal injury lawsuit. But if they have, they may have connections that can help you in your search.
2. Explore an Online Lawyer Directory: Online lawyer directories are a good resource to begin to find an experienced lawyer for your case.
3. Ask Other Lawyers: If you have connections to other lawyers, you can consult with them to see if they have any professional connections that they would recommend. Other lawyers, even those outside of the personal injury field, may know who to ask when you have been in an accident.
4. Use a Lawyer Referral Service: A lawyer referral service can help connect you to law firms that can help you in your personal injury lawsuit.
Things to Consider When Hiring a Personal Injury Lawyer
How to find a good personal injury lawyer often involves knowing the right questions to ask. Some things to consider when hiring legal representation involve:
1. Experience Level: When you have been injured, having experienced lawyers on your side helps. Shulman & Hill’s team of lawyers bring professional experience from many different fields and areas of law to one of New York’s most respected personal injury law firms.
2. Size of the Firm: When a firm practices many different kinds of personal injury, you will likely want them to have enough attorneys available to make your case a priority. The law firm you choose should never be spread too thin to give your case the attention to detail that it deserves.
3. Areas of Expertise: Ideally, the law firm you select should specialize in the type of accident you’ve experienced and be well-versed in the local laws of the accident’s location. For instance, if you’ve been in a car accident in New York City, a personal injury lawyer solely focused on medical malpractice might not be the most suitable choice. Similarly, if you’ve sustained injuries in a construction accident, you may prefer a personal injury law firm that also understands New York workers’ compensation laws and can pursue a claim.
4. Testimonials and Past Success: The law firm you choose should be able to share with you their past verdicts and settlements. Shulman & Hill has a proven track record of success, with a long history of winning hundreds of millions of dollars for injured clients.
5. Licensed in Your State: A personal injury lawyer who is going to represent you needs to be licensed to practice law in your state.
Hiring a Personal Injury Lawyer: FAQs
What are the benefits of hiring a personal injury lawyer?
If you are asking yourself, “how do I file a lawsuit?” then you may be in a position to speak to a personal injury lawyer. Likewise, if you are not sure if you have a case, or who may be liable, you may still benefit from a legal consultation.
The benefits of hiring a personal injury lawyer include being able to take the burden off of your shoulders of navigating insurance claims, medical records, legal issues, and more. You will be able to rest assured that you should have the best possible chance of receiving the maximum amount of compensation to which you may be entitled. With experienced professionals on your side, you will likely have fewer legal questions to worry about and more time to focus on your own recovery.
When to hire a personal injury lawyer?
There are some cases when you may be able to file a personal injury lawsuit and not even realize it. For instance, in a case of premises liability, the negligence of a property owner or employee may have contributed to or caused your accident. If you have medical bills or suffer pain and suffering from an accident where someone else was at fault, you may want to consider speaking to a personal injury lawyer to assess if you have a case.
How much does it cost to file a lawsuit?
It costs nothing upfront to speak with the lawyers at Shulman & Hill. The legal experts at Shulman & Hill take cases on a contingency basis. This means that we are only paid if we recover compensation for you.
Contact Shulman & Hill Today
The experienced law team at Shulman & Hill is available now to answer any questions you might have about filing a personal injury lawsuit and pursuing the compensation to which you may be entitled. If you have been injured and someone else was at fault or created the conditions that caused your accident, speak to Shulman & Hill today to find out how we can help.
Call us at (866) 528-3139, or fill out our online form for a no-cost, no-obligation legal consultation.
