The legal system and the practice of law is chop full of unique terms and labels.  Many of these are used to describe persons, events, or procedures.  Case law, discovery, house arrest, pleadings, pro se, service of process…all of these represent just a quick sampling of terms embed within the law.  Some terms are helpful.  Some represent procedural necessities.  Some are rooted in Latin while others have developed over time.

Personal injury law shares in this general use of terms and labels.  There’s one term, however, that often gathers more attention and intrigue in the personal injury context.  The term is “ambulance chaser;” and, it describes a nasty and ugly component to the personal injury profession.

Ambulance Chaser

Many of us are already familiar with this term.  We’ve heard it in movies.  We’ve read it in newspapers or magazines.  Some may even have heard it used as the punch line in a joke.

The dictionary tells us that an ambulance chaser is a personal injury lawyer who seeks out accident victims and persuades them to sue for damages.  True, an ambulance chaser may help describe a certain personal injury attorney.  However, it’s highly offensive for people to assume that all personal injury attorneys fall under the umbrella of this label.

Any profession in our society is comprised of the good, the bad, and the ugly.  There are great mechanics and then there are the liars and thieves.  There are great athletes and then there are the cheaters.  There are noble politicians and then there are the corrupt.

These same concepts apply to personal injury attorneys.  There are just and ethical personal injury attorneys; and then, there are the unjust ones.  Ambulance chaser is a derogatory term that helps describe the unjust.  It’s used to describe unethical personal injury attorneys that may solicit business at the scene of an accident or disaster.  It’s a term best reserved for the sharks swimming in muddy water that seek to personally gain from a person’s misfortune or devastation.  Ambulance chaser should be considered an ugly term best left for the personal injury attorney found at the bottom of the barrel.

Our Difference

As a firm specializing in the practice of personal injury law, we believe that it’s invaluable to focus some attention on the term in question for it’s a term we successfully avoid.  Our firm is comprised of a highly talented team of professionals.  Our attorneys are ethically intact.  They are dedicated.  They are trustworthy.  They may be aggressive and passionate in their representation of a client, but they are far from using unsound practices or tactics.

We understand that the term ambulance chaser comes with the practice of personal injury law.  At times, the term may be useful.  It may assist in identifying the unjust members of our profession.  Nevertheless, we believe the term is a nasty term.  It’s an ugly term.  It’s a term we work tirelessly to avoid.  As stated above, a personal injury attorney may aptly deserve the ambulance chaser label.  However, it’s a label that does not apply equally to all members of our profession and it definitely does not apply to our firm.

Our clients include people who have been seriously injured.  Our clients include people who have been impaired in their ability to work due to injuries.  Our clients include people who have lost family members due to other people’s carelessness.  In short, we understand that the lives of our clients have been disrupted, if not torn apart.  We value and care for our clients and our attorneys would never begin to take advantage of their situations.

Ambulance chaser may be a term used in our profession, but just keep it away from our firm.  One of our main goals is to resolve problems.  The resolutions we seek are honorable and they are packaged in the principles of justice and righteousness.  This is our difference.  This is our commitment to our clients.  This is the way we practice law.

Image Credit: Jason Kuffer via Flickr