Why You Shouldn’t Represent Yourself in a Personal Injury Lawsuit – Guest Post

A personal injury can be devastating for anyone. The fact that another party caused serious injury to you that has destroyed your physical health and your financial well-being can be infuriating. However, despite how angry you may be, you shouldn’t represent yourself in a personal injury lawsuit. Doing so would be a big mistake for several very good reasons.

You Don’t Have the Legal Knowledge

There’s a reason why passing the bar exam to become a lawyer in any state is extremely difficult. Being a lawyer is not an easy job. It takes years of studying legal precedent and courtroom procedure. As a layperson, you will not know any of this. While you could try to study up in your free time, it really won’t be the same as having the knowledge and experience of a seasoned attorney.

You Probably Won’t Be Able to Negotiate a Settlement

One thing that you should know about personal injury lawsuits is that a good deal of them are settled out of court. If you wish to do so, you should certainly visit a law office. Doing so on your own will probably be impossible. It’s easy to understand why. Companies and other parties that could be sued are better dealt with by professionals who understand how to use the legal system to seek proper compensation in order to reach a settlement. When you try to do this on your own, many of the same parties will probably assume that a person representing themself is a legal threat of no consequence.

You Don’t Know How to Work with a Jury, Judge, or Lawyers

Obtaining a victory in a personal injury lawsuit means having to work for the best possible outcome in regards to interactions with the defendant’s lawyers, the judge, and the jury if it comes to including one. As a non-attorney, you won’t have any experience doing so whatsoever. However, a seasoned personal injury lawyer will have years of experience doing just that. In fact, the lawyer may already know a lot about the judge in question, the defendant’s attorney and the likely jury pool in that jurisdiction.

A Personal Injury Lawyer Can Have an Entire Team

When you hire a personal injury lawyer, you are not usually just depending on the work of that lawyer alone. Instead, they might have an entire team behind them including an investigative team that can do a lot more research on your case than you could ever hope to do on your own. Don’t take on that entire burden yourself.

Personal injury lawsuits are not easy to win. They require vast legal knowledge regarding legal precedent and proper courtroom procedure. It requires knowing how to convince a jury, how to work with a judge and how to avoid the traps set by the defendant’s legal counsel. You will likely not succeed in representing yourself. Instead, seek out a qualified personal injury attorney to represent you in court.