When someone is injured through no fault of his or her own, a lawyer called a personal injury solicitor is needed to represent him or her in court. These attorneys specialize in the law surrounding car accidents, negligent working conditions and more. If you want to become a personal injury solicitor, you must attain a strong legal education, get law firm experience before graduation, pass a special examination, work with medical professionals and find a firm that meets your needs.
If you want to become a personal injury solicitor, you must attend an accredited law school. This post-graduate education will teach you the basics of being a lawyer, such as reviewing case law, argument strategies, public speaking and ethics. It is advantageous for you to select courses that focus on personal injury law. These programs normally last about three years. In order to become a practicing attorney after graduation you must pass a test, such as the United States' Bar Examination, but also a more specialized test to work in personal injury cases, such as the United States' Multistate Bar Exam.
During your schooling, you should take an internship or part-time job that will help you better understand accident cases. Working as a paralegal or an assistant for a personal injury firm will expose you to the legal terminology and the process of defending injured clients. This also can be an excellent way to make professional connections that will help you after graduation, when you become a personal injury solicitor.
Personal connections are crucial in this line of work, especially connections to medical professionals. In order to become a personal injury solicitor, you frequently must send your clients to physicians, psychiatrists and specialists to assess the client's injuries. In addition, doctors frequently must testify at your trials, so it is important to have strong working relationships with these professionals.
Before you can worry about using these personal connections, you must find a professional fit for your skills. When you are ready to become a personal injury solicitor, you can choose between joining a large firm or striking out on your own. A firm will provide you with job security and many experienced fellow lawyers to act as mentors, but you might be assigned cases at random. Opening an independent law office means that you are the boss and can take whatever job you like, but it also means that you might not have any coworkers to consult and will have the stress of being financially responsible for staying in business.