A Day in the Life of a Car Accident Attorney

A Day in the Life of a Car Accident Attorney

A Day in the Life of a Car Accident Attorney: I spend most of my days representing people who’ve been injured in car accidents that weren’t their fault. 

I help these people get back to living healthy, active lives by seeking compensation from the insurance companies and negligent drivers responsible for their injuries. 

This can involve negotiating with insurance adjusters and examining the evidence left at the scene, but it’s also about giving victims hope and peace of mind as they deal with recovering from serious injury or loss of loved ones. Here’s what my day looks like, from beginning to end.

Waking Up

My typical morning routine consists of showering, shaving, and getting dressed for work. I like to wake up early, so before 7:00am. 

Most car accident victims don’t usually wake up that early, but because car accidents are often devastating it makes sense to go see them as soon as possible. 

It’s important that we contact clients immediately after an accident; otherwise, memories can fade, witnesses can forget what they saw or our client might decide not to contact us at all. 

So I try to be out the door by 6:30 or 7:00am depending on when my kids need to get ready for school.

Morning Routine

A car accident attorney is at work long before anyone else arrives. They might have an early breakfast with clients, attend court hearings to present cases, and review files to get ready for meetings later that day. 

At noon they will either take lunch and discuss cases or eat lunch while reviewing files and attending meetings.

Driving to Work

On any given day, Jim spends about half an hour driving to work. Some days he’s on I-5, other days he’s taking surface streets—but that time is always spent with his eyes focused forward. 

As an attorney who specializes in car accident cases, Jim spends most of his waking hours thinking about collisions and injuries. 

He's also very careful when it comes to driving—he knows his liability depends largely on his actions behind the wheel. 

How do you drive? Do you ever look at your phone or take your eyes off of traffic? It might be worth taking a closer look at your behavior behind the wheel (and getting advice from an attorney) if you're involved in a collision that wasn't your fault.

At Work

After being away for two weeks and then being up until late at night catching up, it’s always great to get back home. 

As I stepped out of my car, I was welcomed by my cat: Meow-Meow. He loves me and always wants attention when I come home from work. He jumps on me and rubs his head against mine; if you’ve ever seen how excited a cat can get when someone scratches behind their ears, you know that they love it. 

Even though he can be kind of annoying sometimes, there is nothing better than coming home to him after work or an event. It makes everything so much better!

In Court

A day in court varies for any accident attorney. Some days are more exciting than others, but no matter what kind of case is being tried that day, you can expect to have a full calendar. 

One common misconception about car accident lawyers is that they spend most of their time negotiating with insurance companies and at trial rather than working with clients, witnesses, and experts. 

In reality, it’s a rare car accident attorney who doesn’t primarily spend his or her time working directly with clients. 

And if you’re not spending most of your day working directly with people then you probably aren’t dealing with personal injury claims very often; big firms don't touch those types of cases because they're simply too much work for little payoffs.

Back Home

After a long day at work, there's nothing more relaxing than getting home and unwinding. For many people, that means sitting down on your favorite chair and putting your feet up. 

But for car accident attorneys, home means something very different. A car accident attorney often spends her evenings after work reviewing hundreds (or even thousands) of pages of legal documents. 

Sometimes that means spending hours searching online databases or poring over hard copies at local courthouses—other times it means pulling up documents right on her laptop and reading through case histories and other legal requirements or court documents to better prepare for an upcoming trial.