Personal Injury Lawyer: How To Choose The Best If You Have An Accident Oversees
All lawyers are not the same - this article outlines what a specialist personal injury lawyer is and how to make sure the lawyer you choose is accredited by the law society.
Which country do you choose your personal injury lawyer from?
The country where your accident occurred is known as a "jurisdiction" -- your personal injury claim will be subject to the law of the land in that jurisdiction.
There are some exceptions in which you can do what is known as "jurisdiction spot" -- this means that you can choose which country to make your claim.
For example -- imagine you booked a "package holiday" abroad. A "package holiday" being a holiday including flights, transfers, hotel and organized activities etc. During that package holiday abroad you tripped injuring yourself due to a defect with the hotel flooring. As the package holiday company has a business address in your home country you would have the right to make a compensation claim in your home country or the country where your accident occurred.
You must choose your personal injury lawyer from the country you decide to make your compensation claim in.
What is a personal injury lawyer?
A "personal injury lawyer" can be known as an accident lawyer, an accident claim expert, a personal injury specialist or a personal injury solicitor etc.
Take, for example, England and Wales -- in these countries a lawyer can be either a barrister or a solicitor, but a personal injury solicitor is the lawyer you would need to contact to make your compensation claim.
How do you know which personal injury lawyer is the best one to make your claim?
All commonwealth or former commonwealth countries will have a supervising organization for its lawyers known as the "law society"-- this name may vary from country to country but its function will be similar.
The "law society" will set standards for its lawyers to meet and will often have specialist accreditations to show that a lawyer has a proven specialist skill.
Imagine you have an accident in England and wish to find the best personal injury solicitor to make your claim. England has a law society which has a specialist "personal injury accreditation scheme" -- until recently this was known as a "personal injury panel solicitor" scheme.
To be a member of the personal injury accreditation scheme a lawyer must be able to prove he has a high level of expertise.
Other accreditation schemes exist for different types of personal injury claims in England and Wales such as the "medical negligence accreditation scheme".
I recommend if you have a personal injury that you only use a personal injury specialist who is an accredited specialist by the law society of the country in which you are making your claim.
How do you know who is a best personal injury lawyer in a non-commonwealth country?
Many countries will have a supervising organization similar to the law society where you can check the expertise of lawyers.
For example, in the United States you can check the expertise of a lawyer from a "bar association".
You now know which country to make your compensation claim in, what a specialist personal injury lawyer actually is and how to know a lawyer is an officially recognized specialist.
Author´s Bio
Kevin Bolton is a specialist personal injury solicitor and accident claims expert with 11 Years of expertise in the field. Visit
Personal Injury Solicitor to find out in jargon-free language how to make a successful accident compensation claim in the UK
