Settlement amount: $8,200. That’s right. $8,200. Not after attorney fees. Not after medical bills. Not after costs. Total settlement. That is not the kind of number that ends up on billboards or buses, but dollars are not the only metric for measuring success as a lawyer.
Highlights
- Success isn’t always a massive payout: A modest financial settlement can still be the most important event in a client’s life.
- The true value of a lawyer: Clients often need reassurance, someone to listen, and a steady hand just as much as brilliant legal strategy.
- Redefining victory: The legal profession does itself a disservice when celebrating big settlements as the way we communicate our value.
You won’t see many personal injury lawyers advertising an $8,200 recovery. In the legal marketplace, where advertising often focuses on seven- and eight-figure results, an $8,200 settlement doesn’t sound particularly impressive. Some would view it as a loss. Yet that case is one of the most meaningful cases I’ve handled in nearly two decades of practicing law.
Our firm could have viewed it as just another case. However, for this client, as for many, it was one of the most important cases of his life.
That reality has caused me to think a lot about how we define success.
How Should We Measure Success as Lawyers?
Eighteen years ago, when I became an attorney, my goal was simple: help people. Not “help people when the case was worth millions.” Not “help people only when the facts were dramatic enough to make headlines.” Just help the people who come to us.
That doesn’t mean I’m indifferent to the economics of running a law firm. Money matters. Of course it does. In personal injury law, financial compensation is often the only remedy. The amount of a settlement can have a profound impact on a person’s life, especially when medical bills, lost income and long-term injuries are involved. But dollars are not the only measure of whether we have served a client well.
Early in my career, I probably would have measured this case differently and wondered whether the time invested made sense. Years later, I see it differently. The older I get, the more convinced I am that some of the most important things we do as lawyers cannot be measured on a settlement statement. Rather, they are measured by whether we showed up for someone when they needed help the most.
Over the years, I have also learned that clients often need more than legal advice.
- They need someone to answer the phone when they call.
- They need someone to explain what is happening.
- They need someone to reduce uncertainty.
- They need someone to listen.
- They need someone to help carry a burden they were never expecting to face.
How This Client Was Different, and the Same
This client did not have what most would consider a major accident. There were no catastrophic injuries or headline-worthy facts. But he did have a life that felt like it was coming apart. He was going through a difficult divorce. He was overwhelmed. The accident became one more source of stress at a time when he felt he had very little left to give.
Clients rarely call a lawyer when life is going well. They come to us hurting, frustrated, scared, confused or overwhelmed. Sometimes, the greatest value we provide as lawyers is simply helping someone navigate a difficult season of life.
When this client hired us, he certainly wanted help with the legal side of the case. But he needed something more: He needed someone to listen. He needed reassurance and guidance. He needed hope. He trusted us during one of the hardest periods of his life. We helped him through it and treated him with respect. And, yes, we obtained a settlement on his behalf.
The settlement happened to be $8,200. But to the client, it meant far more than that.
Reconsidering How the Legal Profession Communicates Value
If you measure success strictly by dollars recovered, it would be easy to dismiss that result. I don’t.
Maybe we’ve done too good a job convincing the public that bigger numbers always mean bigger victories. Sometimes the most important case in the world isn’t worth $8 million. Sometimes it’s worth $8,200.
Our profession sometimes does itself a disservice by allowing settlement numbers to become the primary way we communicate value. Successful results should absolutely be celebrated. Clients deserve lawyers who know how to maximize recoveries and fight for them. But some of the most meaningful work we do will never show up on a spreadsheet or a billboard.
That $8,200 settlement reminded me why I got into this profession. Whether $8 million or $8,200, the mission remains the same. Listen. Serve. Guide. Help.
Maybe I’ll put up a billboard: “$8,200 Car Accident Settlement. Not Every Victory Needs Eight Zeroes.”
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