There are countless professions out there performing every type of service imaginable. While some of these occupations may be better known than others, all they are fixed with certain perceptions and social labels. For example, schoolteachers are considered noble, firefighters are heroic, and scientists are smart. However, one professional occupation is viewed very differently from all others. This particular line of work is referenced in many ways, and none of them are flattering. You’ve heard them called greedy, sleazy, and even bloodsuckers. Yes, we are talking about personal injury lawyers.
Some people think that waste management is horrible and that landfills are filthy. Still, most would agree that they perform a valuable service, and while it is not desirable work, it is respectable. On the other hand, personal injury lawyers are almost universally appalled. Even other types of lawyers make fun of injury lawyers. Strange as it may seem, anyone will tell you how they despise the accident attorney profession, but few can tell you why; and even fewer can speak from personal experience. Where this wave of discontent finds its roots is anyone’s guess. So why does the world love to hate personal injury lawyers?
In general, people perceive injury lawyers as these vultures who wait for an accident to happen and when it does, they jump in without fault to make a quick buck. At the very least, this is a gross distortion of reality. To suggest that accident lawyers expect people to suffer harm or take advantage of the misfortunes of others is criminal. Since injury lawyers make their living by getting people hurt, but so do many occupations. For example, doctors get paid when patients are sick; policemen are paid when a crime is committed; but doctors and policemen are not considered to benefit from the misfortunes of others.
Think about it. It’s a fact of life that people get hurt. No matter how safe a place is, injuries are inevitable. In a fair society, if someone is hurt, the person responsible is responsible for the damage caused to the victim. All a personal injury lawyer does is help the victim navigate the justice system so that she can claim the compensation to which she is legally entitled.
Most injury skeptics accept the above statement: victims deserve justice, and attorneys are needed to help them achieve that justice. Yet skepticism remains as they gawk at what they perceive to be outrageous amounts of money awarded in settlements and verdicts. The critics are wrong because it is not a lawyer, a judge or even a politician who is responsible for assessing the dollar value of an injury: it is a jury made up of American citizens. Trial by jury is the cornerstone of our legal system and is one of the few elements of the judiciary that works well. Therefore, an attack on the verdicts is not only an attack on the cherished ideal of American justice, but also self-inflicted on the attackers themselves, while the blame falls on a scapegoat.
Still, much criticism remains despite admitting that the victims deserve justice and that verdict amounts are awarded fairly. The argument is that personal injury attorneys take too large a percentage of the victim’s compensation. In some cases, where there are millions of dollars at stake, it can seem like the lawyer gets more than the lion’s share. This is really not the case. It is important to note that in the vast majority of injury cases, the defendant is a multinational insurance company with virtually unlimited resources and the best attorneys money can buy. Fighting this type of competition in court is not an easy task. Important cases can take years to fight, and when you consider the resources involved, attorneys receive their fair share when all is said and done.
In short, personal injury lawyers provide an invaluable service to society, and it is about time they got an ounce of respect. Unfortunately, it seems that they will always be the profession that society loves to hate.