You’ve seen movies about it and you may have even heard a few stories: The righteous individual who decides to take on the legal system alone, without the help of the attorney. It’s actually more common than you think. The biggest State court, California, reported sixty-seven percent of all cases litigated in this way. Florida reported seventy-three. Though less common at the Federal level, it still occurs almost a quarter of the time. Many personal injury claimants feel that they have been wronged, and justly so. Why should they have to share compensation for loss and suffering with an attorney?
A solicitor knows more about the law than you will ever know. This might sound conceited but the American legal system is mind-numbingly complex. If you’re a do-it-yourselfer, learn everything you can about the law and then hire a solicitor. You will be shocked by how much you still have to learn. If doubts persist about the use of a personal injury attorney, find the kind that is open to you helping in the process.
You don’t know how to do jury selection. Jury selection is tricky, involving a a mix of proper questions, statistical knowledge, and just gut-feeling. Clearly the manner of choosing the jury directly impacts the outcome of the case. We don’t recommend relying on opinions but statistical facts, which vary case-to-case. An attorney would be far better qualified to make this determination.
You won’t withstand examination or cross-examination. This is the most complex part of a trial, whether a jury is present or not. Odds are the other side will field an attorney, especially in a personal injury case. They are masters of rigging up biased interviews and changing the meaning of your words. Your witnesses will have to be chosen carefully as well, or else their testimonies might be stricken or discounted.
The other side’s witnesses will lie and you won’t know how to prove otherwise. Nothing stops a witness from lying, they do it all the time. A solicitor will help formulate the questions in such a way that their case will eventually be proven to contain flaws. Don’t count on being able to do the same. Simply stating they lied is against procedure, even if it’s plain to everyone that they did. Asking them the same question in a different way, also against court procedure. The means and manner of questioning witnesses are the subject of many law-school classes, and even that is no substitute for having done it in a real courtroom.
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