Do personal injury attorneys specialize based on type of law or case?

The one word answer is yes.  When looking to retain a personal injury attorney you need to consider that many attorneys only practice in a limited number of areas of the law.  Some may in fact only specialize in ONE area.  For example, many personal injury attorneys will only handle car accident cases, some only handle workers compensation cases, while others will only handle medical or legal malpractice cases.  In most states, workers compensation cases are covered by a different set of rules that not all attorneys are versed in.  Additionally, medical malpractice cases require a high degree of medical knowledge, which not all personal injury attorneys possess.  Legal malpractice cases require a thorough understanding of each respective states Code of Professional Responsibility, also known as the Code of Ethics.  These are only some of the reasons why you may be better served to hire a personal injury attorney who focuses on a limited area of the law.

Additionally, some attorneys or law firms will specialize even further, focusing on limited areas within a specific area of the law.  Again, using our examples from above, a workers compensation attorney could limit his or her practice by type of industry, such as trucking or manufacturing.  They may also limit their practice to type of injury, possibly focusing only psychological injuries or death claims.  A medical malpractice attorney, may limit his or her practice by focusing on the type of injury, i.e. birth trauma injuries, heart attacks, or botched surgeries.  There are some attorneys and firms who will limit their practice to the type of vehicle involved, i.e. specializing in motorcycle, boating or trucking accidents.

For the reasons listed above, it is extremely important that you do you homework when choosing an attorney to handle your personal injury case.  Make sure that you ask a lot of questions, especially to determine whether your prospective attorney has handled any cases similar to yours.  Also, it is highly recommended that you interview more than one attorney.  If you have done you due diligence, than you should be comfortable with the attorney you eventually choose to handle your case. 

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