If you wish to become a personal injury attorney, it’s important to understand that possessing certain traits will play a critical role in your ability to properly represent your clients. Luckily, these aren’t necessarily traits you need to possess naturally. They can be cultivated.
Are you pursuing a career as a personal injury lawyer? If so, you can improve your chances of being the best personal injury attorney you can be (and thus improve your chances of succeeding in your career) by focusing on developing the following essential qualities:
Compassion
No pun intended, but in many instances, the best personal injury lawyers take their work, well, personally.
In your career, you’ll likely be representing people who’ve experienced a range of difficulties. These may include being left with injuries that can permanently impact the quality of their lives, facing unexpected medical bills, and even losing loved ones due to the negligence of others.
This can be taxing on anyone. To ensure you remain committed to serving your clients as they deserve, focus on developing your sense of compassion. There are actually many effective ways to become a more compassionate person. When you have compassion for your clients, you’ll be more motivated to help them serve justice.
Multitasking Skills
Being a successful personal injury attorney typically requires handling a range of tasks on a regular basis. You must consult with potential clients, coordinate with current clients, negotiate with insurance companies, investigate accidents, research case law, calculate the value of insurance claims, and much more, all while probably serving multiple clients at a time. Fortunately, as with developing your compassion, you can also train yourself to become better at multitasking.
Negotiation Skills
This is among the most important qualities of any personal injury attorney. When you’re representing your clients, odds are good insurance companies and liable parties will try to convince you to settle for less than a claim or lawsuit is truly worth. You need to negotiate effectively to prevent them from paying out less than a client may genuinely deserve.
Just keep in mind that strong negotiating skills don’t need to involve being adversarial or antagonistic. Yes, to some degree, you have to be aggressive when negotiating on behalf of a client, but if you’re too “in your face,” you might actually reduce your odds of securing a fair deal. To become a better negotiator, learn to strike a balance between standing your ground and being reasonable in your interactions with insurers and other attorneys.
The Ability to Relax
This is an essential quality in a personal injury lawyer that’s often overlooked. Quite simply, the line of work you aspire to can be very stressful. It can also force you to work long hours. If you become stressed and don’t get enough sleep, your ability to serve your clients well will be limited. As such, it’s smart to learn how to relax and manage stress in a healthy way.
Just remember that it can take some time to develop these qualities. You may not cultivate them all overnight. However, if you remain persistent, you’ll eventually become the type of person who makes for a truly strong personal injury attorney.