1. It costs you nothing up-front to hire a personal injury attorney. Most personal injury lawyers represent their injury victims on a contingency fee basis, which means you do not pay anything up-front, and you do not incur any attorneys’fees unless you are awarded compensation for your injuries or other damages.

2. Your lawyer will invest in your case. Personal injury claims can be very expensive to pursue. There are filing fees, fees for experts, investigators, re-constructionists and other professionals and other costs. Very few injury victims can afford to pay these fees and costs as they go. Your personal injury lawyer will front the expenses.

3. A personal injury attorney maintains perspective. As an injury victim, you are prone to put your personal sense of right and wrong and your emotions above the legal technicalities. That could cost you. It doesn’t make you wrong in everyday life, but the law will not bend to your emotions, morals or sense of fairness. Your case can be thrown out if you make a procedural error, no matter how much you deserve compensation.

4. Asking for the right amount of money. People who are severely injured, and their loved ones, typically underestimate the life-long costs of their injuries, and may ask for far too little in future economic damages. At the same time, you can easily ask for far too little or too much in noneconomic damages. Your lawyer works with the right experts to make a realistic estimate of your future damages that will hold up to scrutiny.

5. Access to experts and other professionals. An established personal injury attorney works with experts and other professionals on a regular basis and knows how to find the right experts for your case. That can include medical experts, financial experts, investigators, accident re-constructionists, and others.

6. Experience with insurance company tactics. Personal injury attorneys know the dirty tricks that the insurance companies use to cheat injury victims out of their money, and they know how to beat them at their own game. No amount of research will beat experience in this area.

7. Knowing when to settle and when to press on. You need to get paid and quickly. In your desperation, you may jump at a settlement offer that is way too low. Your attorney will know if a settlement offer is fair and worth going for, or if you should hold out for a larger amount.

8. Higher settlement offers. If you represent yourself, the defendant’s attorneys will assume they can take advantage of you. On the other hand, if you are represented by a reputable attorney, they know what they are up against and are likely to start with a much higher settlement offer which can lead to a speedier resolution and much higher payout for you.

9. Minimizing your risk. If you lose and the court deems your case frivolous, you could be saddled with attorneys’ fees and other expenses incurred by the other side. Experienced personal injury lawyerswill carefully review your case, and will only take it on if they believe they can win. Remember, the contingency fee means high stakes for your lawyer too.

10. You need to focus on yourself and getting well. Your time and energy should go into healing. Personal injury claims involve a lot of paperwork, deadlines, and so much more. Your personal injury lawyer will take that burden off of you so that you can focus on yourself and your family.