Is your solicitor working for you?

A simple road traffic accident, a bit of whiplash, a few dents in the car - most claims solicitors can handle that sort of claim all day long. But what if your situation is a little more serious? What if, instead of a little bit of whiplash, you've suffered a more serious injury? Can your average claims solicitor get you the best deal?

The answer is probably not.

The majority of claims solicitors do a superb job when it comes to the majority of compensation claims. But the problems start when you factor in serious injuries such as spinal and head injuries. Because of the nature of these types of more serious accidents, compensation claims can become extremely complex. The necessity to factor in specialist care, expert witness testimony and an understanding of the ‘bigger picture' is difficult for some run of the mill claims solicitors to deal with, purely because they usually have such a big caseload of lots of small claims to juggle. Serious injury specialists take on fewer cases because their experience tells them that they are going to have to dedicate far more time proportionally to each individual case.

It also comes down to a thorough understanding of the challenges faced by serious injury victims. Whiplash may cause problems later down the line, but these are insignificant compared to the immense challenges faced by someone who has suffered a broken back or serious head injury. With a serious injury, a solicitor needs to look at two aspects - the immediate needs of the victim and the family and their long-term needs, quite possibly for the rest of their lives.

The challenges faced by serious injury solicitors

Serious injury solicitors are specialists. They deal with traumatic cases where emotions can run very high, so as well as being legal experts, they need to be compassionate and fully involved with every case. They must have the interests of the victim and their families as paramount. Serious injuries affect not just the victim, but their families as well, particularly if the victim is the primary wage earner in a household. The last thing that anyone recovering from a traumatic injury needs is the additional pressure of financial worries. So serious injuries specialists move quickly to get interim payments, deal with logistical concerns such as home alterations or arranging specialist care and get other aspects of serious injury treatment moving as quickly as possible.

Once the dust settles, serious injury solicitors don't just walk away. Their involvement with the victim can continue for years after the initial accident, often working with victims to help others cope with traumatic injuries. It is this dedication to the welfare of the victim and a long-term outlook that puts specialist serious injury solicitors in a different league from the average claims solicitor.

There is no doubt that ordinary claims solicitors do a great job, day in, day out, for victims of minor incidences. But for more serious situations, the benefit of experience cannot be underestimated. It is this experience that specialist solicitors have. And it is why if you have been involved in a serious incident that will have a long-term and life-changing effect on your situation, your first course of action should be to consult a specialist.