Annual Convention of the American Association for Justice

Tim Beasley, Partner and Head of Catastrophic Injury, has attended the Annual Convention of the American Association for Justice (AAJ) in Philadelphia, USA, July 2023

This annual convention of the AAJ, a group which includes the most eminent specialist American attorneys practicing in the field of personal injury, took place over 5 days.

Tim attended in his own capacity and as a member of PEOPIL, the Pan-European Organisation of Personal Injury Lawyers who sent a number of attendees from various jurisdictions in Europe to engage with American lawyers for the good of all victims of personal injury either side of the Atlantic and beyond. In fact, there were lawyers from Canada and Australia in attendance.

The convention has a focus on education, training and networking.

Tim attended a fascinating day of seminars on brain injury in which he learned about some of the latest imaging techniques including Diffuser Tension Imaging and Brain Perfusion Scanning.

Lawyers shared their experiences of the approaches that are taking to running brain injury cases in various states of the USA. Even though juries rather than judges decide these cases in the US, it is remarkable how similar these cases can be. One constant theme is the behaviour of insurers, who do not want to pay out if they can avoid it. In the realm of brain injury, with victims who were high performing and functioning before their injury, there can be some scepticism about how a brain injury has affected that person. These victims are walking and talking – you would not know they were injured if you walked by them in the street. Experiences are the same in the USA as in England. If you cannot see or touch the injury, as you can with a scan of a broken leg, there is always scepticism.

The key to these cases is having excellent evidence from the people who knew the person best – spouses, partners, other relatives, friends, co-workers and employers can all tell you how the person has changed by their injury.  Imaging to show areas of damage to the brain is the cherry on the top of the icing. The evidence of people who knew the victim before and after is the best evidence.

There are cases where insurers like to argue that any problems are psychiatric and with treatment the person will get better. This is where radiological imaging can help. Where there is brain damage, the person is not going to get better, and treatment will focus on adaptations and how to cope with the injury. The imaging then helps to defeat the allegation that the victim’s problems are all psychological.

As well as the education sessions there were lots of opportunities to network with American lawyers. This is important because there are in fact 50 US states and practices vary across those states.

Levenes have an international outlook thanks to having so many solicitors who speak a foreign language and that outlook includes to the USA where although English is the dominant language there is a large Spanish speaking population too. Where clients in England and Wales are injured in an accident in the USA, whether as part of a package tour or during independent travel, we can work with American law firms to ensure that justice is achieved for those clients.

Trust the Levenes Personal Injury Team

You will benefit from the considerable experience and skills of our international lawyers. We have the resource of a network of affiliated law firms around the world. Many of our lawyers are fluent in foreign languages and have working knowledge of overseas legal systems. We have pursued thousands of international injury claims cases.

You can trust that we will always work hard to get the best possible result for your claim, whether you’ve been injured at home or abroad. Let our team of highly experienced, specialist personal injury lawyers will guide you through every step of the process.

Get in touch today and find out within 1 hour if you have a claim. Call us on 0800 048 2355 or request a call back now.