What the trade covers
Personal injury practices represent people who have been physically or psychologically hurt because of someone else's carelessness or wrongdoing, and who are seeking compensation from the person or organisation responsible, usually through that party's insurer. The common threads are an injury, another party's fault, and a claim for damages.
- Road collisions involving cars, trucks, motorcycles, bicycles and pedestrians
- Injuries on someone else's property, such as a fall in a shop or an unsafe building
- Injuries caused by a defective product
- Medical negligence, though many practices treat this as its own specialism
- Workplace injuries, where the claim is against someone other than the employer
- Wrongful death claims brought by a family
What usually belongs elsewhere
A personal injury practice is not the right call for criminal charges, divorce and custody, wills and estates, business disputes, or immigration. Some general practices handle several of these alongside injury work; a practice that lists only injury work will usually point you to someone else, and that is a fair answer, not a brush-off.
How the first conversation usually goes
Expect to be asked what happened, when, where, who was involved, what injuries you have, what treatment you have had, and whether you have spoken to an insurer. Expect to be asked about deadlines: every state sets a time limit for bringing a claim, and it varies by state and by the kind of claim. This register does not track those deadlines. The practice will, and so will your state bar's public information line.
A description of a trade, not of any practice on the register. Whether a particular practice takes a particular kind of matter is a question for that practice.