Personal injury cases are bread-and-butter to many practicing lawyers, and the best of them are experts on the process of getting you a decent settlement. It's always better to negotiate your case with a capable lawyer than to try to do it alone, because you may not know what your claim is worth.

The first thing you should do when searching for a personal injury lawyer is to consult your friends, family, and co-workers; they can give you leads and frank assessments of lawyers they've used. Just because a lawyer on TV has a lot of testimonials doesn't mean those "clients" aren't actors.

Your best chance of winning a personal injury claim is to be very careful at the scene in what you say and do, and to record the key events as soon as possible, while they are still fresh in your mind. If shock or pain prevents you from doing so at the scene, do so as soon as reasonably possible.