An injury lawyer is a lawyer who handles cases where someone has been hurt due to the negligent actions of another person or entity. The legal system allows individuals to recover for damages that affect their quality of life, including lost wages and medical bills. These cases can be complex, and it is essential that injured victims hire a reputable and experienced lawyer to handle their claim. An attorney with experience in injury law is able to navigate the legal process, medical access and insurance coverage issues.

The injury lawyer’s first step will be to gather evidence of liability. This can include police and accident reports, medical records, video surveillance footage and witness statements. The attorney may also hire outside professionals to help establish how the incident occurred, such as accident reconstruction experts.

Next, the attorney will have to establish the defendant’s duty to prevent harm to the victim. This can be an explicit duty, such as the duty every doctor has toward their patients, or an implicit one, like the duty that all drivers have to others on the road. Then, the attorney needs to show how the defendant breached that duty and how this breach directly caused the client’s injury.

Once the injury lawyer has established liability, the next step is to determine the amount of the client’s damages. This includes the costs of past and future medical treatment, lost wages and emotional distress. The injury lawyer will often review pay stubs, worker’s compensation statements and letters from employers to show how an accident has negatively affected the client’s income. The injury lawyer will then calculate the total justifiable amount of compensation based on these losses.

Most personal injury cases are settled outside of court, but sometimes the case cannot be resolved without going to trial. During the trial process, the injury lawyer will need to be prepared to present expert testimony to support the claim and counter the opposing party’s experts. This is an expensive and time-consuming process, and the injury lawyer will need to have sufficient financial resources to cover these expenses.

When choosing an injury lawyer, it is important to find out how the lawyer charges for his or her services. Virtually all injury lawyers charge a fee only if they win the case, but some may have different policies on expense reimbursement if the case is lost. Consumers should also be aware that there are a number of other “case expenses” associated with personal injury litigation, such as stenographer fees, court reporter fees, charges for physician reports and filing fees.