Attorney Steven Gursten speaking today at the New Jersey Association for Justice 2013 Boardwalk Seminar
Today I will be speaking at the New Jersey Association for Justice 2013 Boardwalk Seminar. My topic is aimed more toward other personal injury attorneys, and to those who litigate auto accident injury cases in particular. But it has tips and tactics that all lawyers can use.
There are no shortcuts or magic tricks to helping your clients. It requires time, effort and dedication. And to do it right means there is always more to do, not less.
Computer claims software programs like Colossus are commonly used by the insurance industry, and it has completely changed the old way that lawyers handled auto accident cases. And many lawyers have been very slow to adapt. Colossus has also caused a corresponding decrease in the settlement value of many personal injury lawsuits.
It is now up to the attorney, more than ever, to prepare to settle the case with an insurance adjuster that inputs “values,” while at the same time to one day show a jury if the case goes to trial, how injuries from an auto accident truly can impair and change lives.
The old days, and the old ways of how attorneys handle these cases, are done.
Because of new technologies, such as computer claims software, there are now also very serious and sometimes devastating injuries that are often overlooked. Colossus was designed to lower the values of cases, such as soft tissue whiplash injuries. Other types of injuries, such as chronic pain and traumatic brain injury, can’t be neatly entered into the computer and properly assessed. But an understanding of how these injuries affect your client is paramount to establishing the full extent of your client’s disabilities, and getting a fair and full settlement.
My presentation will explore these issues and more, including how lawyers specializing in certain areas of law have an advantage in this new age of the Internet, and how this specialization will help you earn even higher settlements on behalf of your clients, than a lawyer who is a generalist.
And you have to be willing to go all the way on behalf of your clients. I’ve said many times before, being a lawyer who is known to try cases makes a huge difference in the final injury settlement amount for any client injured in a car accident. For example, bad faith litigation against Allstate and other large insurance companies has shown that an attorney’s reputation as someone willing to take a case to trial can increase your settlement by up to four times over the same exact injury lawsuit handled by someone who isn’t known as a successful trial lawyer.
