TBI, or traumatic brain injury, is one of the most challenging injuries that a person can suffer. The role of the TBI lawyer is to explain your rights, provide advice, and if needed, represent you in court. TBI lawyers often help by conducting professional investigations of the accident, connecting and coordinating with medical providers, and assessing damages.
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A TBI lawyer will help you if your claim to the responsible party’s insurance is denied. If you know that your employer, or another driver, is liable for your injury, but their insurance company refuses to take responsibility, then a TBI lawyer can appeal the process.
Some TBI cases involve multiple parties, in which case a TBI lawyer can help decide which parties share liability in the case and to what extent. Multiple liabilities may extend to contractors, subcontractors, and your employer, for example.
Sometimes a settlement is offered to a TBI victim from the negligent parties. If you have suffered a TBI and have been offered a settlement, how do you know if it’s a fair offer? Insiders expect the first offer to be a low-ball one, but this could get you in trouble down the line, especially if the consequences of your TBI continue to affect you for months or years. The opposing counsel or insurance company will hope that the victim might accept a low-ball offer before receiving legal advice. A TBI lawyer has the experience to know if you should take the offer or hold out for a better one.
So now you know the overall mission of a TBI attorney, you might still be wondering exactly what they do all day? Our Las Vegas TBI lawyers have outlined four important areas of work that fill their workdays.
- Conducting initial consultations
If you have suffered a TBI and contact a TBI attorney, you can expect an initial consultation. An initial consultation is a meeting, usually lasting less than one hour, between a lawyer and a prospective client (you). Although you aren’t required to bring any paperwork to this consultation, you can expect better results if you are able to bring information that you have collected about the injury (medical bills, police report, photos, etc.).
Personal injury lawyers are committed to achieving the best results for their clients. These lawyers know that what they do changes their client’s life. Personal injury lawyers take pride in achieving a settlement or verdict that allows a client to recover from a TBI. In addition, favorable settlements and verdicts discourage potential offenders from repeating the same negligence that caused their client’s injury.
- Contacting insurance companies and other involved parties
If you have suffered a TBI, you face a mounting heap of paperwork at a time when you need to focus on healing and recovery, resting, or physical therapy. Very soon after your injury, you probably started getting letters from insurance companies, police, your employer, and others. You might have started to receive medical bills within days of the injury. Regular household bills can seem menacing if your TBI has affected your ability to work or has caused a period of lost wages.
If a TBI lawyer takes your case, they will be juggling most of this paperwork for you. They will contact the involved parties, including insurance companies and opposing counsel. They will read the fine print. They will submit the necessary paperwork to the court as your case demands. The best news is that if your lawyer works on contingency fees (and most do), their charges will be covered in any final settlement or compensation.
- Representing you in court
Most personal injury cases result in an out-of-court settlement. However, there are times when a settlement is not in your best interest. In these cases, the attorney will recommend litigation.
For your lawyer, representing you in court means a comparatively small amount of time in the courtroom in comparison to a large amount of time at a desk. Many papers must be filed with the court and given to opposing counsel, all in their proper form and within certain deadlines, before the day when you actually show up in the courtroom. Your lawyer will be responding to email and paper requests from the involved parties, as well as responding to your email and telephone calls. Your TBI lawyer makes time to communicate clearly to you at each step of the way.
- Participating in continuing education
Did you know that lawyers need to take regular courses to remain in good standing with their state bar association? Most states require approximately 50 hours of continuing education per year. Although participating in continuing education coursework is not something that your TBI lawyer does on a daily basis, it should give you peace of mind to know that your lawyer is participating in ongoing education to keep their skills sharp and stay on top of the latest legislation affecting your case.
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The role of your TBI lawyer is to be your advocate, helping you recover compensation for the financial and emotional toll that your traumatic brain injury has taken on your life. TBI attorneys realize that brain injuries usually have profound, long-term effects on both the injured person as well as her/his dependents and extended family. A TBI lawyer has a personal conviction that injured people have the right to be compensated for their losses and that negligent parties should be legally accountable for their dereliction of duty.