The legal system does not require the pairing of a plaintiff and a lawyer. Any plaintiff with a personal injury case has the right to self-represent during a lawsuit. By the same token, anyone with a personal injury claim has the right to push forward in the absence of a lawyer. Still, what are the advantages and the drawbacks to each approach? The answer to that question has been presented in this article.
Advantages to self-representation
Save money; no need to pay a Personal Injury Lawyer in Richmond Hill in the form of a contingency fee. Claimant/plaintiff might stand ready to be assertive and to speak up for his or her rights. In that case, a lawyers’ assistance could prove unnecessary.
Claimant/plaintiff might have gained some special understanding of the law, especially personal injury law. It could pay that same individual to make use of that understanding, and to feel more in-control, with respect to his or her case. Some claimants resist the idea of filing a lawsuit and hiring a lawyer. Their desire to avoid that particular possibility manages to blind them to an awareness of the possible drawbacks.
Drawbacks to self-representation
The ongoing case might involve complex legal issues. Only someone with extensive legal experience would have the ability to understand such issues. On the other hand, someone that lacked the ability to handle such issues could easily end up with a less-than-fair compensation.
The claimant/plaintiff must file all the necessary papers by a given deadline. That requires having the ability to keep track of all deadlines. A missed deadline would force an abandonment of the claimant’s/plaintiff’s personal injury case.
A judge expects a self-representing plaintiff to raise all the necessary legal arguments. Plaintiffs that fail to carry out that task tend to annoy the judge. An annoyed judge could decide to issue a penalty. It becomes the plaintiff’s responsibility to cover all the case costs, such as copying expenses, payment to the person serving pleadings and payment to any expert that testifies at discovery or at the trial.
The claimant/plaintiff might not appreciate the full value of his or her personal injury case. That could lead to presentation of a weak argument. As a result, the self-representing individual with a personal injury case could end up with a less-than-fair compensation package.
Claimant/plaintiff might have ignored a significant aspect of his or her case. For instance, it could be that the self-representing claimant /plaintiff has failed to consider the possible injury to small passengers, as might have been caused by a car accident.
The self-representing claimant/plaintiff could become responsible for resolving any health care liens that have been brought forward by a health insurance company. That would involve completion of technical jobs.