The law comes up in normal conversations every day. This is because the law impacts all aspects of our life. When I am with people and conversations related to the law emerge, people often say something and then look at me and say “that’s right isn’t it?, or they will just look out of the corner of their eye to see if I nod or if I am going to disagree with what they have said. The truth is I often don’t know the answer.
This is because lawyers are like car mechanics.
If you know somebody who is a car mechanic and you went to them and said, “Hey I’ve got a 2004 Chevy Silverado and when I turn it like this it shakes like that and it makes this humming noise – what do you think that is?” The mechanic is probably going to look at you in the same way I look at my friends who ask me about the law as if it exists in some sort of a vacuum.
However, if you took that same 2004 Chevy Silverado and brought it to the mechanic and gave him 30 minutes to look under the hood and put it up under a lift, you better believe he is going to be able to tell you what’s going on with it, how it works, and what it needs. Injury law is the same way.
As an injury lawyer one of my most important jobs is to educate the public about their rights. When an individual or a family suffers a traumatic injury or loss as a result of a car accident or medical malpractice or some other sort of negligence, people’s lives get thrown into a tailspin. Immediately they need some of the uncertainty and worry in their life resolved. They need answers to their legal questions.
I am just like a mechanic. If you come in and see me and bring me the information about what has happened, and let me look under the hood, I will give you my time up front for free and tell you what I think. I can never make promises in these initial meetings but I can answer lots of questions. I can tell people what sort of insurance coverage they have and how it works. I can tell people what they can expect from the insurance companies in terms of approving or fighting the claim. I am can tell people about my experience dealing with the medical profession and what sort of treatment these people might expect, how much it is going to cost, and how long it’s going to take. I can tell people about how the courts will look at the facts of their case and what the potential financial outcomes of a settlement or court award may be.
After an individual or someone in their family has suffered an injury or loss they need answers, and it’s my job to provide those answers and to set them on the strongest legal path possible.
