I spend a HUGE amount of time lecturing other lawyers at continuing legal education seminars across the country. Why? Because it is important that lawyers stay current in trucking litigation issues if they are to represent families whose lives have been forever changed by a collision. In a small way, I am ensuring justice can come to the families of those I don’t represent, and may never know about. Not every lawyer wants to give back to others, and that is their choice. But even if they don’t teach, they should at least attend. A lawyer that neither teaches not attends continuing legal education in the area you need a lawyer is not a lawyer you should hire.
If your lawyer has not attended a trucking seminar in the last two years, why not? Ask to see a transcript of the Continuing Legal Education Programs they have attended. That will tell you quickly the areas of law the lawyer deems it important that they stay smart in. If all the courses they have taken are criminal or corporate law, do you really think they are focused, truly focused, on getting justice for those hit by a tractor trailer?
Lets look at a trucking lawyer in Michigan, Steve Gursten. Mr. Gursten has not only written a chapter in a book about trucking litigation, he has presented at several seminars on trucking litigation topics and is in a leadership position in the American Association of Justice Interstate Trucking Litigation Group as well as a National Advisory Board Member of AITLA. (Disclaimer, I am also a National Advisory Board Member of AITLA). Don’t allow your case to be handled by an inexperienced lawyer. Hire someone that knows what they are doing. If you look at the lawyers continuing legal education, you will have taken a big step in finding the right lawyer for your case.