Top Law Schools

Deleted Post

I am not in this field, but have an acquaintance who is a solo practitioner exclusively in personal injury. He rarely went to court. And he seldom went into the office. Didn't have many cases, but seemed to do well financially. Always or almost always settled his cases. Spent a great deal of time & money in politics & funding his wife's pursuits. The big question is how did he get clients. I don't know. It's possible he was coasting after a big settlement or two.

I know another personal injury firm which has a lead attorney/founder and many associates doing document review (mostly medical records). He pays the doc review associates about 60k per year. Gets clients primarily through heavy TV advertising. He's doing very well financially. I don't know how he spends a typical day. His administrative staff are heavily involved in running day-to-day activities in his multiple offices.

Another personal injury lawyer I know is a very wealthy solo practitioner. Gets clients through referrals & ad space on the back cover of phone books. Hand picks his cases. Most settle. Turns down most cases. He is near retirement. Had a lot of free time probably due to his well trained staff.

Another acquaintance just does medical malpractice defense. Was a solo office until his son graduated law school. As a solo practitioner he averaged over $2 million per year. Always went to his office & litigated (tried cases) frequently.

OP: I know that I haven't answered your question, but I hope this helps.

Watch better call Saul

But my impression is that few associate positions will be similar in a PI practice. It's gonna be very contingent on the type of PI work, the setup of the shop, and the people in charge. You might have to hop around a lot to find the right situation.

in my limited experience, PI has generally has very big personalities. Even the non ambulance chaser PI people who see themselves as having more "respectable" practices (again, granted I know only a handful of these types) have severe napoleon complexes.

So more than likely, the famous car wreck attorney who advertises heavily on tv and employs 20 attorneys in my small-mid size city has them doing doc review?

PJam1989 wrote:To everyone out there who works as a personal injury attorney: Can you tell me what a typical day is like? How about a typical week? Every time I do research on the work day of a lawyer, I only see articles and responses regarding BigLaw. I have no interest in BigLaw. So, personal injury associates, what is the job like?

Small firm plaintiff's-side PI guy here.

It's pretty chaotic but much more manageable time-wise than a biglaw gig. I do a lot of law and motion work, discovery, depos, court appearances, trial prep, intake, etc. The day to day can vary pretty widely, but it's usually some mix of that. I occasionally do a little travel around the state, which can be a pain or kind of nice depending on why I'm traveling and my mood. There's also a degree of creativity in the sense that discovery/investigation involve some degree of strategy. I also end up doing probably a bit more paralegal type work than biglaw or biggov bros might. There's also your typical lucille-ball-working-an-assembly-line never ending stream of tasks that need to be done yesterday. And like anything else, you still have your doc review type tasks and general last-minute assignments and chaos.

Huge upside: I rarely wear a suit.

I have a good friend who worked at a well-known local PI plaintiff's shop for a while--the kind that advertises the named partner heavily. There was a team of paralegals that did most of the paperwork. Then there were about 12 associates who met with new clients (day or night) and attended depos, mediation, and trials almost daily. He tried/settled about 50 cases as a first year. He said the pay was actually not bad (base salary, plus commission), but the lifestyle sucked, and the business just made him feel dirty.

logdog wrote:He tried/settled about 50 cases as a first year...the business just made him feel dirty.

I have to hazard a guess that those two things are related. 50 seems a touch high for one guy.

Anyway, that notwithstanding, I also just wanted to point out that another nice perk of my job is that I get to feel pretty good about what I do. Don't know why this job, of all the crappy legal jobs out there, would make someone feel dirty.

prezidentv8 wrote:

logdog wrote:He tried/settled about 50 cases as a first year...the business just made him feel dirty.

I have to hazard a guess that those two things are related. 50 seems a touch high for one guy.

Anyway, that notwithstanding, I also just wanted to point out that another nice perk of my job is that I get to feel pretty good about what I do. Don't know why this job, of all the crappy legal jobs out there, would make someone feel dirty.

This image doesn't help.

I appreciate this info... It's interesting to hear that there's more than one way to be a successful PI attorney

starry eyed wrote:

prezidentv8 wrote:

logdog wrote:He tried/settled about 50 cases as a first year...the business just made him feel dirty.

I have to hazard a guess that those two things are related. 50 seems a touch high for one guy.

Anyway, that notwithstanding, I also just wanted to point out that another nice perk of my job is that I get to feel pretty good about what I do. Don't know why this job, of all the crappy legal jobs out there, would make someone feel dirty.

This image doesn't help.

Meh, I tend to just laugh at the ads that some of my PI bros run. ATL had a couple good TV ones not that long ago.

Regardless, running a goofball billboard would feel a lot cleaner than helping Liberty Mutual save a few bucks by screwing some dude who just lost an arm or something.

i agree and i think it's just business, but my dad hated them, he was a trust and estate midlawyer.

This might belong in a PM, but I'll just ask it through here... is the biggest job of being a personal injury firm owner keeping a high volume of clients and if so couldn't a new lawyer with enough capital take out TV ads etc. to start a presence?

prezidentv8 wrote:

logdog wrote:He tried/settled about 50 cases as a first year...the business just made him feel dirty.

I have to hazard a guess that those two things are related. 50 seems a touch high for one guy.

Anyway, that notwithstanding, I also just wanted to point out that another nice perk of my job is that I get to feel pretty good about what I do. Don't know why this job, of all the crappy legal jobs out there, would make someone feel dirty.

I didn't mean to suggest that all PI firms are that way. I just know that his particular firm was a PI sweatshop located in a shopping center. The partner essentially just ran the business and put his name/face on advertisements. My friend also told me that they worked very closely with a few medical experts that they sent their clients to. Most settlements revolved around the cut that the doctor and law firm would get, with the rest going to the client.

That said, I have other friends at really good PI firms whoa re making a very positive impact in the lives of their clients and in the legal community.

logdog wrote:I just know that his particular firm was a PI sweatshop located in a shopping center.

Heck out LST's new podcast I Am The Law. It's on iTunes and http://www.lstradio.com there have been three different personal injury lawyer episodes so far.

The day in the life of a hi, I think I'll put some spam here is much like the day in the life of any lawyer. I hired a personal injury lawyer to handle my personal injury claim not to long ago and I was wondering how long it may take to negotiate a possible settlement. Also, how often should the lawyer keep you informed of the progress of the case?