Personal injury law

Graduates who get jobs as personal injury law solicitors can expect a great deal of client contact in high-value claims.

Personal injury law involves either pursuing or defending claims relating to injuries and fatalities as a result of road traffic accidents and accidents at work or elsewhere.

Graduate careers in personal injury law

Firms will specialise in either claimant or defendant work and lawyers will tend to work solely for claimants (the injured parties, sometimes through unions or legal expenses insurance) or defendants (usually acting on instruction from the defendant’s insurers). Lawyers tend to specialise in particular areas; for example employers’ liability cases or motor cases. Within each area, there are often further specialisms such as catastrophic injury, disease or high-volume/low-value claims.

Each case, whether acting for the claimant or defendant, will require an investigation into the circumstances of the accident, an analysis of fault, and an investigation into the value of the claim. Lawyers may need to take statements from witnesses and the parties involved; seek expert evidence from engineers or reconstruction experts; and possibly obtain documentation from employers, highways authorities and the Health and Safety Executive. In some cases expert evidence from doctors, earnings information from employers and information from surveillance agents is also needed. Determining who is to blame requires consideration of the evidence in the context of statute (particularly in relation to employers’ liability cases) and precedent (particularly in relation to motor work).

Low-value claims usually come to trial within nine months of proceedings being issued but higher value cases can last for several years, particularly if the claimant’s medical condition has not stabilised sufficiently for the value of the claim to be assessed or because there are disagreements between medical experts about the extent or cause of the injury.

Levels of client contact vary depending on the value of the case: in high-value claims there tends to be a great deal of contact with the client whether acting for the claimant or the defendant. These kinds of claims can also involve site visits and meetings with opponents. Lower value claims can often be handled by a single fee earner who can be largely office based.

Working hours for this area of law tend to be a little more regular than in other practice areas, but will depend on the demands of the caseload at any particular time. Typically it does not involve very long working hours but with client demands and court deadlines to meet – particularly in the run up to trials – it can mean working late or occasionally at weekends.

Is personal injury law recession-proof?

There is rarely a shortage of claimants wanting to make claims so this area is always busy. The incidence of accidents is unaffected by the economic climate. However, when financial times are hard, people may decide to make a claim where they otherwise might not. This tends to ensure that solicitors working for both claimants and defendants are kept busy. Also, the insurance companies’ heightened awareness of the possibility of fraudulent claims in times of economic downturn means that specialist defendant teams are also in demand.

What skills do personal injury solicitors need?

An ability to see the bigger picture.
Common sense.
Negotiation skills.
A personable approach and good communication skills.
Technical ability.

What's it like doing a trainee solicitor's job in personal injury law?

Trainees can expect to become involved in most aspects of a case: investigations, statement taking, instructing medical experts, legal research, instructing counsel, preparing schedules of documents, attending court with counsel and drafting schedules or counter schedules of loss. They will tend to work on higher value cases alongside a more experienced fee earner.