In the injury law business it’s always nice to get a compliment.

One insurance adjuster ranked some personal injury lawyers in these parts, and put me on top, in terms of being a dangerous adversary.

Quite a compliment because there are a lot of good, competent injury lawyers. There really are some very good ones. Of course there are a lot of hacks too, so an injury victim needs to be extremely careful.

In his view, I am jury-friendly, and that makes for a dangerous adversary.

He knows, through experience, some lawyers are good in front of juries, and some are not. It’s tough to win an injury case if the jury does not like or trust the lawyer– let alone if the jury actually ends up infuriated with the lawyer to the point of hatred.

Yet it happens all the time.

You see real smart ( or so they think) trial lawyers looking down their noses at the jury only to leave the courtroom with their tails between their legs.

The courtrooms in New Hampshire have the skeletal remains of many arrogant trial lawyers.

No doubt about it, being able to talk to jurors with commitment, clarity, and honesty is key.

Too many personal injury lawyers can’t make that connection ( due to arrogance or insecurity or whatever), which is harmful, if not fatal, to a case.

I’ll never forget the words of an injury lawyer with a big advertising budget after he lost yet another jury trial. It was something to the effect he should have been a probate lawyer.

Truer words have never been spoken. But the point is that probate law, for the most part, is not street-law, and dealing with juries.

Those words should have burned in his mouth.

Like a lot of injury lawyers he should have years of psychological counseling and serious spiritual work before he ever tries to present a case to a jury. What a mess, and what a pity.

So, the compliment was nice to hear, especially from a professional in the injury law business.

The jurors as a group, with all their years of experience, are smarter and wiser than any 1 injury lawyer. They’ll spot a phony in a New York minute.

The fact is I really like people. The folks sitting on the jury are the same people you’d see at the ballpark, in church, at the store, at school or downtown. For the most part, I just get along with them.

It is important, however, not to lose sight of the goal—settling the injury claim for top-dollar without going to court.

But if the going gets tough, injury victims need a lawyer who connects with people. After all, they are powerful.

How powerful?

At the end of the day you’re either a winner or a loser… and they make the call.

Keep your strength.

Charlie Donahue
personal injury/ car accident attorney
Keene, N.H.