If you get into a motor vehicle accident and experience physical injury or damage to your car, you’ll probably want to make a claim with your insurance to seek compensation. Optionally, you also have the choice of hiring a lawyer to help you get the best possible payout from your insurer. If you do get involved with the legal process, it’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with the term counsel, which is an important one in this context. 

Key Takeaways

• Counsel can be either a noun or a verb
• It may refer to your lawyer or the advice your lawyer gives you
• It can also mean “to give legal advice”
• Most of the time, “counsel” can be seen as a synonym for lawyer or attorney
• It is advised to work with legal counsel when you get into a motor vehicle accident to help you get the most compensation possible from your insurance

What is Counsel?

In law, counsel is actually used to refer to a number of things. These include:

• (Noun) - Another term for “attorney” or “lawyer”
• (Noun) - Advice and guidance concerning a legal matter 
• (Verb) - To give legal advice or guidance

In all likelihood, you will most likely hear this term used to refer to your lawyer, aka your legal counsel. 

Counsel in Motor Vehicle Accidents

You may be wondering if it is advised for you to retain legal counsel when you find yourself in a car accident. It’s important to note that this is not required. You are entitled to handle your insurance claim on your own if you want to.

However, it is a good idea to hire an experienced car accident lawyer for a few reasons.

First, it’s important to understand that it is in the interest of your insurance company to compensate you as minimally as possible. They have teams of lawyers who are available to help them investigate your claim and determine the lowest possible payout. If you want to be evenly matched, you’ll need somebody with legal expertise representing you and your interest in being compensated fairly. This is the role of your counsel.

Second, some motor vehicle accident cases are more cut and dry than others. In certain situations, such as if you have video footage of the incident and the other driver was clearly breaking a law, it will be easy to prove that the other party was responsible for the accident. 

However, much of the time, the case may be much more complicated than that. If you didn’t collect sufficient evidence at the time of the accident, you could find yourself in a difficult position to prove your case. 

That is why it’s a good idea to begin working with legal counsel as early as possible. Your counsel will be able to guide you through the process of filing a claim, helping you to understand the nuances of the law surrounding motor vehicle accidents, and representing your interest in getting the most compensation possible for your case. That way, you won’t have to find yourself in a position where you may be forced to pay for your car repairs and medical expenses out of pocket.