Before we go into the details of a day in the life of a personal injury lawyer Fresno is like, it’s important to know what it is that a personal injury lawyer does. Here a deep dive into what it takes to be a personal injury lawyer and what their interactions can be like.
Who Is a Personal Injury Lawyer?
Let’s say you’ve experienced some kind of physical or psychological loss because of what someone has done or failed to do that they were supposed to do. It could even be that you have suffered a financial injury, which would be in the form of a pecuniary loss. In that case, you will need a personal injury lawyer.
A personal injury lawyer exists to help you right the wrongs that have been done to you by others. The lawyer will act on behalf of the injured party, in which case the injured party will be referred to as a claimant, and the personal injury lawyer will be referred to as a claimant’s lawyer. The person you are taking to trial, the defendant, will be defended by their own lawyer, who is referred to as the defendant’s lawyer.
Because of the nature of most cases that involve personal injury, such as when an employee takes an employer to court, it is highly likely that the defendant will have some kind of accident or malpractice insurance. Therefore, it is also highly likely that their insurance company will be a joint defendant in the trial.
The whole point of a personal injury lawyer is that they represent legally those who claim an injury, whether it’s physical, psychological or pecuniary, as a result of the negligent or wrongful acts of others. These others can be anyone. It could be a person, but it could also be a company or a government agency. Personal injury lawyers are trained in all fields of law and could if they wanted, practice in any of them. They do, however, specialize in a special field known as tort. The cases that fall under tort include injuries during accidents, medical mistakes, defective products and injuries at work.
A Typical Day for a Personal Injury Lawyer
A day in the life of a personal injury lawyer is almost like a day in the life of any lawyer. I start by getting up early in the morning, meditating, going for a walk and then showering before taking my breakfast. This is the morning routine that sets me up to face the day ahead of me, and I’m sure every lawyer has a morning routine of their own.
Once the morning routine is over, I either go to the office, a meeting or to court. Once there, the real work begins. The exact nature of work varies, depending on what I’m doing at the time. Sometimes, I might check my emails, write complaints or briefs, attend meetings, take depositions or go to court for trial. I might also spend my time at a trial. For the most part, there is a lot of reading, writing, and meetings in an average day.
Once I’m done, I head back home and unwind by spending time with my family. Sometimes, especially for important cases, the work does come home with me, but that is rare. As with any profession, being able to separate to home life from your professional life is essential.