Choosing the right Phoenix personal injury lawyer can be daunting. There are approximately 16,000 people with active licenses to practice law in the state of arizona. This means that people searching for a lawyer to represent them have a difficult task ahead of them if they wish to make a wise decision. The phone book lists page after page of lawyers with little to distinguish them and with 16,000 active members, the general state bar directory reads like a phone book as well. Clients need to be able to wade through this information and find the lawyers who are true specialists in handling their kind of legal problem. In one sense, of course, all Phoenix personal injury lawyers are specialists--they've all been through specialized training in law school and specialized testing and evaluation before being admitted to the bar.

However, this degree of specialization is not always enough to allow a lawyer to handle your case optimally. It's true that many lawyers practice in the civil litigation field and some generalists can be very capable. But if you have a serious injury and someone else is at fault, it's a safe bet that that person is going to make it as hard as possible for you to get what you deserve. You wouldn't want a general physician to do your heart surgery if a cardiologist was available. Similarly, when you have a serious injury and need someone to stand up for your rights, you need a Phoenix personal injury lawyer who is a certified specialist in injury and wrongful death litigation.

So how can you find out if the lawyer you're considering getting help from is a certified specialist? The simplest way is to ask them whether they have been certified by the arizona state bar association. If you're still not sure or want to double check, the state bar of arizona's website has a page listing all of the lawyers who have been recognized as certified specialists located at http://www.Myazbar.Org/azbar.Cfm.

But does it really matter? Just what does it take for the bar to recognize an attorney as a specialist? While many services advertise that they "specialize in customer satisfaction," for example, it requires much more than a clever turn of phrase to become a certified specialist attorney. In addition to the qualifications all attorneys must possess, e.G., graduation from an accredited law school, passing the state bar exam, and good character, Phoenix personal injury lawyers who wish to be certified by the arizona state bar as specialists have to meet several strict requirements:

First, the lawyer must have been practicing law for at least five years and practicing in arizona for at least the last two years.

Next, at least 50% of the lawyer's time must be spent in the area in which they wish to specialize, which means that each lawyer can have no more than two specialties, and usually only one.

Additionally, Phoenix personal injury lawyers who wish to be certified must show that they are "substantially involved" in that particular area of the law and have been for at least 4 out of the last 6 years. Being substantially involved means, among other things, devoting at least 1000 hours per year to practicing in the field and meeting the bar association's stringent quota of number of cases, complexity of cases, and quality of outcomes.

Lawyers who become certified specialists all attend mandatory classes on new issues in arizona tort law every year and are also evaluated on how many papers they have published and how many courses they have taught in the field.

The assessment of a lawyer's record guarantees that a certified specialist isn't just better educated than the average lawyer, they also get better results. The assessment includes things like whether the lawyer got a larger verdict at trial than the other party was offering, the number of experts the lawyer has worked with, the number of times the lawyer has been successful on appeal, and the complexity of the cases the lawyer has handled.

Finally, all lawyers who wish to become certified specialists must pass an exam designed by other specialists to test whether the aspiring specialist has a complete knowledge of the specialty. This is in addition to the standard bar exam which all Phoenix personal injury lawyers pass, so you can be sure that your certified specialist is truly at the very highest level of legal knowledge and skill.

What's more, all certified specialists must go through the majority of this process every five years to remain certified, so you can be confident that your specialist is up to date on all the developments in personal injury law.

It is crucial to understand that if you have been wrongfully harmed, you have rights which can only be vindicated in court. It is important to have the guidance of an Phoenix personal injury lawyer with extensive experience to ensure that you get the compensation you deserve.