Of course there is more to life than work.

Our health, fitness, family, friends, recreational activities and community engagement are vitally important and cannot be underestimated in their importance for our overall happiness.

So why do personal injuries lawyers spend so much time talking to you about work?

It is usually the first question we ask.  Increasingly, as people work longer and longer, we are asking people in their 70s what their retirement plans were before the injury.

When faced with a life changing injury, it is completely understandable that our clients ask why work is our focus when the injury has many more far reaching consequences than their ability to work.

The reason is simple.  There are legislative parameters for the compensation you can recover for pain and suffering.  While there is some scope for submissions based on your individual circumstances, they do not make as much of a difference as even a modest impact the injury may have on your ability to work.

Even if you have returned to work in the same capacity as you had before the injury, that does not mean that you do not have a claim for loss of income.

If you think about the amount of money you would lose if you were unable to work for a period of time, you can see how your losses would add up quickly.

Examples that we have seen are-

  • Someone who works in admin but who had previously worked in hospitality.  If they can continue in their admin job but, because of their injuries, could no longer return to hospitality, has a claim for future economic loss.
  • Someone who works in IT and can return to work in a help desk but could no longer work as an onsite IT consultant because of the need to lift and manoeuvre hardware, has a claim for future economic loss.
  • Someone who works as a concreter who has returned to work but suffers from debilitating pain at the end of each day because of the aggravation of their injuries by that work has a claim for future economic loss.

This is why your personal injuries lawyer may seem focussed on your work history.

Having said that, do not self censor when explaining the broader impact of the injuries on your life.  We need that information too as part of our overall assessment of the unique person we are working with.   If you enjoyed hiking with your kids, cycling, high speed motor sports, tennis, gardening, ocean swimming or any other recreational activity that has been effected by your injuries, we need to know.