How to Become a Personal Injury Lawyer
Our Los Angeles personal injury attorney, Michael Ehline, is a prominent and respected personal injury attorney in California. He earned his doctorate in law post-bar passage. He did so on an obscure Los Angeles program called “Law Office Study.” So he attended law school in the evenings.
Then he worked as a law clerk for several public and private attorneys. Furthermore, this lawyer went on to become a successful, multi-million-dollar accident attorney. So this section is dedicated to discussing the many techniques and methods in achieving bar passage. Also, it covers the process of committing your profession to negligence law.
First Step In Becoming A PI Lawyer
Many want to help fight against evil corporations, overreaching governments, and other injury-causing persons. But when we are young, we fail in many ways to know what we want out of life. Some of us are partying; others join the military and seek careers. Others could get wounded in combat, etc. But our dreams can be altered by acts of God. Our goals can also change based on our emotional security. For example, when you are a child, you may want to be a “butterfly” when you grow up. But as an adult, your dreams may come into perspective.
But no matter what, your first step in becoming an injury attorney will be vastly different than another’s. Some of you may have attended a regular college and then a high law school. Still, others like me may have become lawyers in the Law Office Study Program. Most of all, some people discover they have a calling to help others. This typically comes with emotional security. We have all seen the movie about the older legal secretary who assisted in a PI case. They even made a movie about her.
Destiny Chooses You, You Don’t Choose Your Destiny
So the choice to be a PI attorney can come sooner or later. Some defense lawyers understand this. Some of you may have gone on to work for a big defense firm. But you may be sick of the deny, delay, defend tactics. Often this feeling is more pronounced when a family member gets hurt or dies. You knew all too well they got the shaft in Court. But later, you had an epiphany. After all, you defended the same cases.
And guess what, that’s ok. But for whatever reason, you later decided to join the light side of the Force. And it doesn’t matter if you went to college or school, let alone where you went. Most clients don’t care where you went to law school. And last, of all, no one ever asks what your GPA is. People care about your track record.
So whatever the case may be, some people, wealthy or poor, may wish to become injury lawyers. It could be when they are young. Or they could desire the goal later. No matter the case, in this tutorial, I will detail what an aspiring attorney must do with or without law school.
The Tutorials – Becoming An Injury Lawyer
In my tutorial on becoming a lawyer with no law school, I set forth that you must first have passion. After that, you need to pass that Bar Exam. Also, while studying or reading for the law, you MUST intern or extern for SEVERAL lawyers in different fields of law.
Also, you must learn how to do headers and footers and learn Corel Word Perfect and MS Word. Then you must know how to do fillable forms like PDFs. The bottom line is if you want to achieve success as a solo or associate, you need to know how to do everything your legal secretary can do. Except, you must do it BETTER. Like a Marine, you must lead from the front. Understand? So Now, how do you get this break?
How Do I Get Experience In Personal Injury Law Before Becoming an Attorney?
So this is a big issue I never asked anyone about when starting the journey. I learned from jobs in sales that I must sell myself. I sold myself because I would work for “free.” Many of you “income inequality” types would argue that I should get paid and not work for “free.” But free-market thinkers like me are grateful someone gave us a chance to TEACH US ON THEIR DIME. Get it?
In my case, several busy lawyers were willing to invest their time in me a few days a week. They saw my passion. So I was ready to haul file boxes and learn a file and index system. Eventually, I learned how to respond to and request civil discovery. So it would help if you got away from the entitlement mentality. You need to understand that whoever takes you on as an apprentice must be able to treat you like a piece of clay. If you screw up, it’s on you! So get it right and listen. Get it?
How Will I Survive Working For “Free?”
Well, this is a reasonable question. First, it’s not “free,” so check your attitude at the door. You are using up a lawyer’s valuable time. And if you’re ambitious, they know you will leave as soon as you learn what you need to know. Ok, how will you survive and pay your bills while trying to attain greatness on the way to becoming an o upper-level ststudentWell? That is your problem?
I, for one, slept on park benches and worked a night shift for ten ($10) bucks an hour at a Los Angeles Home Depot. But eventually, I got a roommate and an apartment. Of course, this was when the lawyers I worked for offered me more money to quit my other job. They hired me to do office grunt work. Eventually, I started making decent money, and after I had passed the bar, I had already tried several cases as a Certified Law Student.
Conclusion After Becoming a Personal Injury Attorney
So now I was making appearances in Court and sitting in on depositions on multi-million dollar cases for other attorneys. Slowly, I built up a client base of my own. Next, I quickly transitioned into private practice as a PI lawyer. Now I am a world-famous burn injury lawyer in Los Angeles. What is your excuse for not taking up the struggle and becoming a tort law attorney? Reach out on our website contact form to learn more.