Lowell Steiger's Los Angeles Law Blog

Hug Your Lawyer: Good Stories About Lawyers

            Contrary to popular belief, many people have positive experience(s) with their lawyers!  About a week or so ago I posted the following request on a fabulous website called Help a Reporter Out (check it out): 

I am looking for people who have been injured in an accident whether it be vehicle related (car, motorcycle, bus, boat, plane, as a pedestrian, bicyclist) or in a slip/trip and fall type case (falling down stairs, off of a ladder, tripped on sidewalk, slipped in store) and whose case has been settled already. How has the accident affected your life? The lives of people around you? Did you use a lawyer and what was your experience if you did? By way of introduction, I'm a lawyer who represents injured people and I write about personal injury in my blog. To be clear, I'm not looking for cases -- I'm looking for people whose cases are already over.

            Within hours I received several responses.  I particularly enjoyed the response below because it sheds a well-deserved positive light on the personal injury profession (it came in two e-mails which I’m combining here).  The links are supplied by me --if you’ve read my blog before you’ll know that I love being able to provide access to further information.

             I hope you enjoy the story.  Feel free to submit comments and/or a story of your own.

 Jean’s Injury Story (Part One)

Q:        What happened?

A:         I was injured in a car accident, not my fault. I had just put the license plates on my beautiful white, vintage Mercedes 450SL convertible and drove round the corner of my house and BAM!! Two cars smashed into me. Two minutes in my dream car mind you!  

Q:        How has the accident affected your life?

A:         My injuries were mostly emotional (there was smoke and I thought I was going to burn up and panicked trying to climb out of the car). I am very nervous driving and am now super, hyper-careful. I see how bad peoples’ driving habits are. I tailor my driving to accommodate rush hour, bad weather and night driving.

Q:        How has the accident affected the lives of people around you?

A:         My husband gets impatient sometimes but understands. He too has realized the poor driving habits of other people.  

 
Q:        Did you use a lawyer and what was your experience if you did?

A:         Yes and he was awesome. Very compassionate and communicative. This was the second time I was a client of his.   I’ll flesh out more if you’re interested.

With Warmest Regards,
            Jean

 

Well, needless to say I did want her to flesh out her story.  Here’s part two of her story:

Jean’s Injury Story (Part Two)

    I have an awesome experience with my lawyer (David Singer from Hollywood Florida). Prior to attending law school, I was in an accident (not my fault) and he handled the case beautifully.

          Twenty years later the 450SL accident occurred and David was the only lawyer I called. Regarding both of my cases with him, the standout was the even though I was not the gazillion $$ case, he treated me like I was. I did speak with him a few times during the representation (otherwise with his very competent legal assistant) and I felt very attended to and completely trusted that everything was being taken care of. Once I secured his representation, I could focus on getting my life together post accident. I would say that my experience was so positive because I listened to my attorney--I understood that in order for him to help me, I needed to let him do what he does best--he did not need to "co-counsel" with me. When I decided to relocate from Florida to North Carolina., David was kind enough to be a reference for me--he certainly got to know me well enough over the years!

         While my injuries were mostly emotional, I did have to get physical therapy for my back which still acts up occasionally. I saw a chiropractor and a massage therapist for several months. Regarding my emotional injuries, I did seek situational counseling for a few weeks to help me overcome the fear of being burned up in the car. Without the counseling, I would have been suffering from nightmares, lack of sleep and being unable to drive. Now, I sleep fine, but the imprint is still there for my driving. As I stated in my prior email, I do tailor my driving to avoid certain roads and times of day. I can drive in heavy traffic, like if I had to drive on the Long Island Expressway I could, but if I have another option that I can exercise, I will.

        I sometimes think that Personal Injury Lawyers get a bad rap as "ambulance chasers" but they perform a necessary function--otherwise what would injured people do to help themselves, protect themselves from being taken advantage of by the insurance companies and sent out a public policy message?
With Warmest Regards,

Jean
Jean Croughan Gillis, Esq.
Carolina Family Wealth Planning
Tel (local): 704-469-3525
Tel (toll free): 888-9-ASK-JEAN
Fax: 888-406-6937
Email: [email protected]
 
Meeting Locations throughout North Carolina including Ballantyne,
South Park, Lake Norman and the SC Suburbs

 

Questions? Concerns?

If You, Or Someone You Know, Was In an Accident

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Please Contact Attorney Lowell Steiger Immediately at

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 "Treated With the Respect and Understanding That You Deserve"

Representing Injured People

Over the years, I have had the pleasure of representing a great many people who have been innocently injured by the negligence of others. It is my basic nature to want to fix things, to make it better for people in general and, specifically, for those that I represent. I want to right the wrongs that have been done to my clients.

My clients range in age from 4 years to 80+. They've been injured as drivers, passengers, pedestrians, bike riders, motorcycle riders, boat passengers, victims of dog bites and other animal attacks, slip and falls in restaurants, stores, parking lots, trip and falls on sidewalks, exploding wine bottles, defamation, medical malpractice, and on and on. Whether the negligent party is an individual, a company or a governmental entity, my clients are deserving of zealous representation.

When someone is injured, they are made less than whole. Something is taken away from them. They suffer not only a physical injuries but emotional injuries as well. An injured person's world is rocked. Once unexpectedly injured, a person's confidence and sense of security in the world around him or her is somehow eroded. That erosion can be small or great.

My clients have suffered soft tissue injuries, facial and bodily scarring, broken bones, brain injuries, psychological injuries such as post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. No injury is to be taken lightly because the pain suffered is 100% unique to that individual. My staff and I sympathize with our clients and want to bring them back to where they were before they were injured.

It is my job to handle the legal portion of each of my client's cases. By doing my job, my client can focus on his or her job: getting well.

My life as an attorney is a second career for me -- I was licensed at 42 (I'm now almost 51). I chose this field because I care about people and want to spend the second half of my life representing those who, without my help, would most likely not get a fair shake from the insurance companies or other big businesses whose negligence has caused them harm.

Look for more posts regarding personal injury law. Please let me know what topics you would like to see covered in this blog.

I welcome any comments to this and any other posts on this blog.

Warm regards,

Lowell Steiger

Feel free to comment on this post and/or e-mail me with other questions at [email protected]