What Is a Personal Injury Lawyer?

Personal injury law combines high case volume, complex medical evidence, and strict filing deadlines. The professionals managing case preparation across 25–40 active files drive these cases from intake through settlement or trial.

A personal injury lawyer is a civil litigator who represents plaintiffs in tort claims arising from negligence, recklessness, or intentional misconduct. These attorneys apply tort law doctrine to secure compensation for clients who have suffered bodily harm, emotional injury, or related damages.

This article examines the legal foundations of personal injury practice, case types by liability theory, the claim lifecycle, medical evidence requirements, and the contingency fee structure that shapes PI case management.

Legal Foundations of Personal Injury Practice

Personal injury law encompasses "injuries to the body, mind, or emotions, as distinguished from injuries to property."

The Restatement (Second) of Torts establishes the four elements of negligence that form the foundation of this practice area:

• Duty of care: The defendant owed the plaintiff a legal duty to exercise reasonable conduct under the circumstances.
• Breach of duty: The defendant's conduct fell below the standard established by law.
• Causation: The breach was both the actual cause ("but-for" test) and proximate cause of the plaintiff's harm.
• Damages: The plaintiff suffered actual, compensable injury.

Unlike insurance defense attorneys who bill hourly to institutional clients, PI plaintiff attorneys typically work on contingency arrangements with individual clients seeking compensation for physical harm. PI attorneys depend heavily on paralegal-driven case preparation—record retrieval, chronology building, and demand documentation—to establish duty, prove breach, demonstrate causation, and quantify damages.

The contingency model creates distinct case selection pressures. Because PI attorneys absorb all upfront litigation costs, case screening focuses on liability clarity, damages severity, and collectability. Cases with ambiguous liability or limited insurance coverage may not justify the firm's financial investment, regardless of the underlying merit of the claim.

Types of Personal Injury Cases

Personal injury spans multiple liability theories, each carrying different evidentiary burdens and documentation demands.

Negligence-Based Claims

Negligence claims require plaintiffs to establish all four tort elements by a preponderance of the evidence.

• Motor vehicle accidents represent the most common negligence category. These cases generate documentation demands, including accident scene photographs, police crash reports, medical records, witness statements, and vehicle damage assessments.
• Premises liability claims require plaintiffs to establish that the defendant owned or controlled the property, that a duty existed based on entrant status, that the defendant had actual or constructive notice of the dangerous condition, and that the defendant failed to remedy the hazard or provide adequate warning. Entrant classification as invitee, licensee, or trespasser determines the scope of the duty owed, though many jurisdictions have moved toward a unified reasonable care standard.
• Medical malpractice represents a specialized subcategory with uniquely rigorous evidentiary requirements. These cases require expert medical testimony to establish both the standard of care and the deviation from it. Many states impose pre-suit procedural requirements, including certificates of merit or affidavits of meritorious claim signed by a qualified medical expert before filing. State-specific medical malpractice caps add another layer of complexity to damage calculations.

Strict Liability Claims

Strict liability imposes responsibility regardless of whether defendants exercised reasonable care.

• Product liability holds manufacturers, distributors, and sellers strictly liable for injuries caused by defective products. Product liability doctrine extends to all parties in the commercial chain of distribution, covering design defects, manufacturing defects, and warning defects.
• Abnormally dangerous activities impose strict liability on those engaging in inherently hazardous undertakings, such as blasting operations or hazardous chemical storage. Because strict liability removes the negligence inquiry, plaintiffs need not demonstrate that the defendant failed to exercise reasonable care. Documentation strategy shifts accordingly, focusing on the nature of the activity, the resulting harm, and the causal connection rather than on establishing a specific standard of care and its breach.

Intentional Tort Claims

Intentional torts impose liability for purposeful harmful conduct, including assault, battery, and false imprisonment. Punitive damages are often available in intentional tort cases. The U.S. Supreme Court in State Farm v. Campbell established that punitive awards should rarely exceed single-digit multipliers of compensatory damages.

How Personal Injury Cases Progress

The personal injury case lifecycle follows a structured multi-phase process with clearly defined responsibilities at each stage.

Investigation and Case Evaluation

The case lifecycle begins with client intake and factual investigation: comprehensive client interviews, preliminary documentation collection, conflict checks, and executed medical authorization forms. Investigation involves obtaining police reports, collecting witness statements, photographing accident scenes, and securing surveillance footage.

Early screening determines viability under the contingency model. Incomplete intake information creates cascading delays throughout all subsequent phases.

Medical Documentation and Case Building

Medical documentation management represents the most extensive paralegal responsibility in personal injury practice. This phase cannot be completed until the client reaches Maximum Medical Improvement (MMI) or treatment concludes.

Medical documentation responsibilities include submitting HIPAA-compliant records requests, organizing records chronologically, creating detailed medical chronologies, and tracking medical liens. Medical records acquisition represents the most significant operational bottleneck, with healthcare providers frequently requiring 30-60 days or longer despite HIPAA's 30-day mandate.

Errors introduced at this stage compound throughout the case lifecycle. Missing providers, inconsistent treatment timelines, or unverified lien data often surface only after demand submission, when correction is costly or impossible. As a result, medical documentation quality functions as an early risk-control mechanism, not merely an administrative task.

Demand, Negotiation, and Resolution

Once medical treatment is complete, paralegals prepare comprehensive demand packages including the cover demand letter, detailed medical chronology, complete medical records, medical bills summary, lost wage documentation, and supporting evidence.

The demand package anchors the negotiation process. Insurance carriers typically respond within 30 to 45 days, often with initial offers substantially below the documented claim value. Counter-offer strategy relies on the strength of the underlying documentation:

• Medical chronologies that establish clear causation timelines.
• Complete billing records quantifying economic damages.
• Evidence of future treatment needs or permanent impairment.

Negotiation cycles can extend through multiple rounds before reaching resolution. Carrier adjusters evaluate claims against internal valuation models, weighing litigation exposure against settlement cost. Cases with thorough documentation and complete medical records consistently generate stronger settlement positions.

Most personal injury cases settle during negotiation. If settlement fails, cases enter formal litigation with significantly expanded responsibilities, including complaint drafting, discovery management, and trial preparation.

Litigation and Trial Preparation

Cases that fail to resolve during negotiation enter formal litigation. Filing the complaint establishes the legal theories, named defendants, and damages sought.

Discovery represents the most resource-intensive phase, generating documentation that shapes both trial strategy and settlement leverage:

• Interrogatories: Detailed written responses to opposing counsel's questions.
• Document production: Organized disclosure of medical records, correspondence, and financial documentation.
• Depositions: Recorded testimony under oath, producing transcripts used in motions practice and trial preparation.

Defendants frequently file dispositive motions, including motions to dismiss and motions for summary judgment. Daubert or Frye challenges to expert testimony add preparation demands in cases where causation depends on specialized medical or technical opinion.

Trial preparation compresses prior case-building into presentation-ready form:

• Exhibit organization and trial binder assembly.
• Witness preparation and deposition digest review.
• Jury instructions, demonstrative aids, and examination outlines.

Most cases that enter litigation still resolve before trial, often after discovery closes and both sides have full visibility into the evidentiary record.

The Role of Medical Evidence in Personal Injury Claims

Medical records serve as the evidentiary backbone of personal injury cases. Proper authentication under Federal Rules of Evidence exceptions is required, including FRE 803(6) for business records and FRE 803(4) for statements made for medical diagnosis.

Medical chronologies organize treatment history into litigation-ready timelines that enable rapid case evaluation, support settlement strategy, and reveal missing records or inconsistencies. The American Bar Association identifies systematic challenges with record retrieval, including fragmented provider systems and administrative burdens.

Medical record retrieval represents a significant cost driver in case preparation. Processing fees, copy charges, and follow-up administration accumulate across providers, particularly in multi-treatment cases involving specialists, imaging facilities, and rehabilitation centers. Firms tracking cost-per-case metrics find that record retrieval costs and processing velocity directly influence case profitability, especially in high-volume practices managing hundreds of active files.

How Personal Injury Lawyers Are Compensated

The contingency fee model shapes PI practice economics differently from hourly-billing practice areas. Under contingency arrangements, attorneys receive a percentage of the recovery only upon successful resolution. ABA Model Rule 1.5 establishes that fees must be "reasonable" and requires written agreements clearly stating the fee calculation method.

Typical contingency percentages follow predictable patterns:

• Pre-litigation settlements: 25% to 33% of gross recovery.
• Post-filing litigation: 33% to 40%.
• Trial cases: 35% to 40% or higher.

A critical distinction exists between attorney fees (compensation calculated as a percentage) and costs (case-related expenditures, including court filing fees, expert witness fees, and medical record retrieval costs). Contingency agreements must specify whether costs are deducted before or after the fee percentage is calculated.

Because firms advance costs without guarantee of recovery, contingency structures inherently reward early risk assessment and disciplined case development. Time spent resolving documentation gaps, securing complete medical records, or clarifying causation directly affects internal return calculations, particularly in moderate-value claims where margins are thin. As a result, cases that appear legally viable but lack evidentiary completeness often underperform financially once delayed resolution, mounting costs, or reduced settlement leverage are factored in.

The Illinois Law Review claims PI firms employ intensive case screening because a small number of cases generate the majority of firm revenue. Paralegal efficiency in case building directly affects firm profitability.

What Does a Personal Injury Lawyer Do?

Personal injury law applies tort doctrine—duty, breach, causation, and damages—to claims involving bodily harm and emotional injury. The lifecycle from intake through resolution depends on thorough investigation, complete medical chronology development, and strategic demand preparation. 

Case preparation workflows position paralegals as strategic drivers of case outcomes. Record retrieval, chronology building, and demand letter documentation determine whether claims move efficiently toward resolution or stall in operational bottlenecks. Tavrn's AI-powered tools streamline these high-volume, time-intensive tasks.

Book a demo to see how Tavrn accelerates case preparation workflows.