Personal injury lawyers find the victim of an accident and sue on his behalf for a fraction of the award or settlement.
Personal injury lawyers, also called trial lawyers (or ambulance chasers) specialize in civil tort law and infest every major habitable area: New York; San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego, California; Denver; Chicago; Boston, Massachusetts; Florida; New Jersey; etc.
Personal injury lawyers are the ones advertised on the back covers of phone books, photographed in bad color against a dark background of bookspines. They are the ones who figure out whom to sue if you get the wrong medicine from the pharmacy or slip on its floor. They have websites with injury advertisement looking just like lottery ads with brief free questionnaires estimating your case worth in exchange for your name and phone number. Trial lawyers often work without a retainer (advance payment), but for a set fraction of the award or settlement amount. This fraction can be calculated based on type of the case, time spent and other factors; it can be as much as a third of the sum. This type of payment is called contingency fee. The good news for the client are that he doesn't need to pay in advance; doesn't need to pay at all if the case is lost; and that the lawyer is just as interested in getting the maximum amount quickly as the client is. The bad news is that this will might end up costing more than a lawyer working on retainer.
Trial lawyers are the lawyers of the lawyer jokes. They are usually regarded as people who persuade accident victims to sue for damages, people who prosper on injury and trouble and who create the climate of frivolous lawsuits. Their interests are aligned with those of their clients, normal people in trouble and in need of money to compensate, no mistake. On the other side of the case, however, are not only impersonal monstrous aggregations like Wal-Mart or McDonald's. Property owners are responsible for the safety of their premises. If a person came to visit to someone's rented house, slipped on the floor because the dishwasher leaks, and broke his leg, the landlord, who possibly never saw the tenant or the dishwasher, will be on the hook. (Or, possibly, his insurance. Or the tenant's. Or everyone all around.) If someone lost control of his car in a parking lot and killed a passerby, there is a chance the lot's owner -- a school, a diner, an apartment building's management -- might need to pay its share.
A personal injury lawyer will find the client himself and as soon as possible. However, all states allow certain period of time within which one can bring a lawsuit on personal injury. This period is two years for most states, six for Main, one for Tennessee, Kentucky and Louisiana.