WHY DO PERSONAL INJURY LAWYERS HAVE A BAD REPUTATION?

Read what Jonathan Perazzo, a dedicated and highly professional personal injury lawyer in Miami, has to say regarding why personal injury lawyers have bad reputation, regardless of how hard they work for their clients best interests.

“It's a complicated industry and the personal injury field involves a lot of technicalities, and the bad reputation that personal injury lawyers have is due to not understanding how the law works when handling insurance claims and dealing with injured clients. Many times, clients that have experienced severe pain or suffered devastating losses, are under the impression that their personal injury lawyer has made lots of money off their case. This, however, couldn't be farther from the truth, as eight out of ten times, the lawyer doesn't make any money at all, or barely makes enough to pay his personal injury staff.

Most times, personal injury lawyers get a bad reputation because of poor communication between them and their client. Other times, people are under the false impression that personal injury lawyers make a lot of easy money. This also couldn't be farther from the truth as people fail to realize how much arduous work and the number of hours that go into each personal injury case. Again, personal injury law is an extraordinarily complex field that is full of obstacles set by insurance providers, who are regularly hesitant to compensate injured parties in accordance with their pain, suffering, and economic losses.

Another reason why personal injury lawyers have a bad reputation is because some clients feel that they didn't receive the compensation they deserved. Thus, they blame their personal injury lawyer for not working hard enough or accuse them of lacking experience, even when they put forth their best efforts for their clients. The truth is that sometimes clients expect their lawyer to work miracles and obtain financial compensation that is simply not realistic to their case. Another important point is that being a personal injury lawyer is like every other job; in which someone works and provides a service that he or she expects to get paid for providing. Being a personal injury lawyer, just like being a doctor or a pilot, is not charity work, it’s a job. It is also quite common for clients to expect their personal injury lawyer to be at their beckon call 24-7, thinking that their personal injury lawyer is on an hourly rate, where in fact, personal injury lawyers work for a result, regardless of how long it takes to achieve that result. Clients many times fail to realize that a personal injury lawyer, especially an experienced one with many clients, must meet the expectations and tend to all clients equally. For example, gathering medical records for clients can sometimes take up to eight months, with the personal injury lawyer at the mercy of the healthcare facility or healthcare provider. Unfortunately, some clients will hold the personal injury lawyer at fault for the delay, unaware that there's nothing they can do but request medical records and simply wait just like everybody else. Having a law degree is not a magic wand for gathering medical records or speeding up legal processes, and clients overlook how slowly the process moves within hospital or clinics that treat hundreds of patients every day. On occasion, clients question why doctors need to get paid for treatment when a personal injury lawyer is representing them. Again, doctors are performing a service which probably cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to learn how to render correctly. When medical expenses are high, clients may mistakenly consider it is their personal injury attorney getting a percentage. This is also a grave misconception which gives personal injury lawyers a bad rap. It’s a common theme for people to consider that they don’t need to pay for things when they are hurt or involved in an accident. Simply, because they’ve never been in an accident before.

Professionals, like doctors, dentists, and personal injury lawyers, have studied hard and spent a lot of money to become professionals that can provide quality services in areas that possess high degrees of complexity. Thus, they deserve to get paid when they render services to patients or clients. In order to prevent any of the above situations that label personal injury lawyers as opportunists, or misconceptions that give them a bad reputation, people should carry insurance so they don’t need to worry about money, claims, and fair compensation for any injuries or losses sustained in an accident.” Jonathan Perazzo Esq.