Settlement Lawyer or Trial Lawyer?

Some lawyers advertise that they have been to trial hundreds of times.  This many or may not be useful.

The lawyer may have done a lot of criminal trials.  Criminal trials are very different from personal injury trials.

Some other lawyers may go to trial often because they are not very good at negotiating, so trial is the only way they can get full value for the case.

Some lawyers may go to trial often because they have so many cases they cannot tell them apart.  If a lawyer has too many cases, he may go to trial more often.  That lawyer may enjoy being in the courtroom so much that he does not put his full effort into getting the best possible offer before deciding to go to trial.

However, any of the above lawyers would be better for you than the lawyer who will never go to trial.  In my opinion, a lawyer who accepts a personal injury case and then refuses to go to trial out of fear should not be allowed to practice law.  The insurance companies know who these lawyers are, and they have a name for them: “settlement lawyers”.

Of course, a lawyer should not be too eager either.  But make absolutely sure that your lawyer is willing to go to trial.  A settlement lawyer is not ready to take your case as far as it needs to go.

It may not matter so much how often your lawyer actually goes to trial.  What matters is that your lawyer is willing to go to trial.

More than 95% of cases settle.  Very few go to trial.  But many cases are settled for far less than they are worth because the injured person’s lawyer is fearful of going to trial and the insurance company knows it.