Insight

What Does A Great Car Wreck Lawyer Do That Others Don't?

Although the average car accident lawyer is certainly competent with room to spare, some lawyers set themselves apart fro the crowd with a special skills set.

AW

Alvin A. Wolff, Jr.

August 2, 2015 12:00 AM

Lawyers vary widely in ability – some work miracles while some are completely ineffective. Although the average car accident lawyer is certainly competent with room to spare, some lawyers set themselves apart fro the crowd with a special skills set. Some of these special abilities are outlined below:

Evidence collection ability: Evidence is the brick and mortar of any car accident case – without it you simply have no case, no matter how meritorious your claim might be. Expert witnesses, for example, are crucial in many car accident cases. An expert witness may testify on the amount of damages claimed or on stopping distances to determine the relative fault of the two drivers. A great car accident lawyer knows how to attract credible expert witnesses and carefully prepare their testimony. Moreover, since courts impose exacting requirements on the authentication of documentary evidence, a great car accident lawyer knows the evidence authentication system inside out.

Bargaining skills: Since most car accident cases are settled through negotiations with an insurance company, a great car accident lawyer must be able to spot any weakness in the opposing party’s case and use it as leverage to secure bargaining concessions. The employer of a commercial driver who caused a car accident, for example, might be legitimately concerned about the company’s public image in the wake of the accident. In this situation, a great car accident lawyer will extract major bargaining concessions in exchange for allowing a secrecy clause to be included in the settlement agreement.

Information processing skills: A great car accident lawyer must be able to take a large amount of information (such as an accident reconstruction scenario), distill it to its bare-bones essentials and present it in oral or written form to a court or to an insurance lawyer. He must present information and ideas in a succinct, easy-to-understand fashion that is subtly slanted to favor the interests of his client. He must also be able to keep all of the facts of the case on the tip of his tongue, ready to advocate his client’s point of view whenever it is challenged.

Salesmanship ability: A great car accident lawyer must also be a master salesman, because he is trying to “sell” his version of events and his interpretation of how the law should apply to a skeptical court or an openly hostile opposing attorney. He must also be able to present novel and obscure legal arguments in a manner that makes his conclusions seem self-evidently true. A persuasive personality will also help him secure the testimony of friendly expert witnesses with established professional reputations, instead of easily discredited “rent-a-witnesses” who possess minimal credentials and spend most of their time testifying in court.

A keen eye for contradictions and logical inconsistencies: A great car accident lawyer strikes fear into the heart of any hostile expert witness he cross-examines by goading them into contradicting themselves or advancing circular arguments, and then pouncing like a cat on any inconsistency in their testimony. He must also have a keen eye for logistical inconsistencies in his own arguments or in the proposed testimony of friendly expert witnesses, in order to repair them and thereby head off trouble before it happens.

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