Raynes & Lawn: Philadelphia's Premier Personal Injury Law Firm in Pennsylvania

If you have suffered serious injuries or have lost a close family member in an incident you believe was caused by someone else, you might be wondering if you should retain a personal injury attorney. Most people understand that law firms that handle personal injury cases are available when people have been hurt in car accidents to help them recover compensation. However, the quality of your representation is important to the outcome of your case.

Some injury firms focus on handling cases instead of on the needs of their clients. Firms that treat people’s cases as if they are simply something to be handled might try to turn cases as fast as they can instead of spending the necessary time to get to know the unique circumstances of each client, thoroughly investigate their cases, and build the strongest possible liability claims on their behalf.

At our personal injury law firm in Pennsylvania, our experienced injury lawyers do not focus on “handling” cases and instead place their clients at the forefront. We closely partner with each client to craft tailored strategies to help them achieve the best possible outcomes. We are more than car accident attorneys and represent victims in a broad variety of tort cases. When you work with our personal injury lawyers in PA, you’ll find an entire team that is dedicated to advocating for you and fighting for your rights.

What is a Personal Injury Lawyer & What Do They Do?

Personal injury attorneys focus on cases that fall within the umbrella of tort law. These are cases that deal with civil wrongs, which occur when an individual or entity intentionally or negligently acts or fails to act in a way that results in injuries and harm to others. Plaintiff’s personal injury lawyers in Pennsylvania represent the victims to help them ensure those who caused their injuries are held accountable and recover fair compensation to make the plaintiffs whole again.

No matter the type of incident that resulted in your injuries, it’s important for you to focus on recovering. While you attend to your medical needs, your attorney will focus on fighting for your rights. Your lawyer will be the point of communication to address your needs while serving as a legal barrier between you, the defendant, the insurance companies, and others who might otherwise interfere with your peace of mind and progress in recovery.

Multiple things might happen while you recover. You might have medical bills piling up and have inquiries from the hospital and doctors’ offices about how you will pay them.

If your injuries were caused by a car crash, you might be contacted by the investigating officer to answer questions about what happened. Depending on whether you chose fault-based or no-fault insurance, your insurance company might need your statement to determine whether it owes you benefits or if the other motorist should be responsible for paying your losses. The other motorist’s insurance company might contact you to try to get your story and look for ways to use your statements against you in your claim.

Similarly, if your injuries happened in a fall while you were visiting a store, the company’s commercial liability insurance carrier will try to get your statement. If you were injured while working, you will likely be questioned by your supervisor and your company’s human resources department.

When you are trying to manage your injuries and get better, it’s difficult to handle these types of issues without help. Dealing with your recovery while trying to simultaneously deal with the aftermath of your incident can be overwhelming. However, when you retain a knowledgeable, competent personal injury lawyer, they can intervene for you and deal with all of the other parties instead of leaving it to you to handle yourself. Injured victims should be able to focus on getting better instead of worrying about the myriad steps involved in an injury claim. Your attorney will diligently represent you from the time you retain them until your case is resolved through a settlement or jury verdict.

Crafting Tailored Strategies

Since no two accidents are alike, it doesn’t make sense for a lawyer to use the same strategy repeatedly when representing negligence victims. Instead, a good lawyer should take the individual facts and circumstances of your case under consideration as they research relevant tort laws and craft the most appropriate legal strategy. Your lawyer must be able to anticipate any legal issues that might arise and determine how to effectively counter them before they happen. Throughout the process, your lawyer should maintain an open line of communication with you so that you are always aware of what is happening with your case.

Providing Honest, Fair, and Legally Sound Advice

Injury attorneys represent people who have been injured because of the acts or omissions of others. However, not every accident will form the basis of a viable injury claim. A good injury lawyer will carefully assess what happened in your case, review the evidence, read the reports, and give you an honest evaluation of the legal merits of your claim. An attorney should never provide guarantees of what will happen in your case but should instead honestly discuss the strengths and weaknesses of your claim. In some cases, a good lawyer will explain to a potential client why the attorney believes filing a claim isn’t warranted.

If your lawyer agrees your case has legal merits and agrees to accept representation, you might be entitled to recover compensation for the losses you have suffered. Your attorney will explain the steps that will be necessary to reach a negotiated settlement and what your claim might be worth. If the defendant and insurance company refuse to fairly settle your case, your attorney should be prepared to fight for you in court.

Preparing Your Case

When your attorney works on your case, they will complete many tasks to build a strong narrative that tells your story and explains the legal causes of action involved. Good preparation might require your lawyer to work with investigators and relevant experts to gain a thorough understanding of all of the contributing factors and potentially liable parties.

During the investigation, witnesses who saw what occurred will be contacted and interviewed. Your lawyer and the investigators will search for diagrams, videos, and photographs that might exist, gather relevant police reports, take photographs, and send preservation letters to prevent critical evidence from being destroyed. Your lawyer might ask an investigator to visit the scene where your accident occurred to photograph any evidence located there that can’t be collected, including tire skid marks, road conditions, and other critical details.

Once the investigators have contacted and interviewed witnesses and gathered evidence, your lawyer will review everything to make a fault determination. They will also gather copies of other documents needed in your case, including medical bills, wage records, medical records, and others. Your attorney will prepare interrogatories for the defendant to answer. These are questions that the defendant must answer under oath and return within a set period. As your case progresses, your lawyer might also schedule depositions to question the involved parties under oath to understand what they might testify to at trial, evaluate their truthfulness, and determine how they might be perceived by the judge and jury.

Negotiating With the Insurance Company

If you are involved in a car crash, a slip and fall in a store, or another type of accident, the defendant’s insurance company will want to speak with you. Insurance companies use several tactics to try to avoid paying claims or reduce how much they might ultimately be forced to pay. One common tactic is to contact the victim and ask for a recorded statement. You should never agree to give a recorded statement to the other party’s insurance company. Insurance adjusters are trained to ask leading questions in such a way as to elicit statements from you that could harm your case.

Your personal injury attorney will communicate with the insurance company for you and will refuse any requests that could hurt your case. When you give a statement, your lawyer will arrange it and supervise the conversation. They might explain what to expect ahead of time and tell you what to avoid saying. Your lawyer will also talk to the insurance company throughout the claims process and work to reach a fair settlement agreement for you.

To keep the insurance company and others from contacting you, your lawyer will tell them they represent you. The other parties will then have to go through your attorney instead of contacting you directly. This helps to prevent potential mistakes and helps your lawyer to track all of the communications and events as they occur. Your attorney will inform all of the parties involved by sending them a letter of representation. This notifies the involved parties that they should direct all contact to your lawyer instead of you.

About Raynes & Lawn

Our law firm has been a well-respected, established practice representing the rights of negligence victims since its original founding as Raynes & McCarty in 1969 by attorney Arthur G. Raynes. Arthur Raynes was an internationally known attorney who fought for the rights of American and Canadian children and families who had suffered the severe effects of the drug Thalidomide. His pioneering work was featured in the London Times and inspired a book, “Suffer the Children: The Story of Thalidomide.” Attorney Arthur Raynes continued leading the firm until his death in 2006.

During its more than five decades of practice in personal injury and medical malpractice law in Philadelphia, our firm has grown and continued to provide the highest levels of legal representation to people who have been harmed by the actions of others, recovering tens of billions of dollars on behalf of its clients. Partner attorney Stephen Raynes joined Raynes & Lawn and continued his father’s lifelong work as a champion of negligence victims. His pro bono work fighting for the rights of Thalidomide victims led to the Canadian Parliament’s establishment of a $250 million Thalidomide victims fund in 2015.

In 2004, Raynes & McCarty was joined by several notable attorneys following the dissolution of the law firm of Litvin, including Gerald A. McHugh, Jr., who was later appointed by President Obama to the federal court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and Martin K. Brigham, a nationally known advocate for the victims of unsafe products. Partner Tim Lawn also joined the firm from Litvin and has won major medical malpractice verdicts, including a $41 million verdict and a $23 million verdict, since joining.

The law firm rebranded to its current name to reflect its growth and leadership. Today, it is among the most well-respected personal injury law firms in Pennsylvania because of its breadth of experience, client-centered focus, legal skills, and highly ethical practice.

Our Commitment to Client Success

Our firm and attorneys are dedicated to helping our clients achieve the most favorable results possible in their cases. We view our clients as partners throughout the claims process and focus on their needs instead of treating them as if they were simply a case to be handled. We offer the time and attention each of our clients needs to develop a thorough grasp of what occurred and the best ways to resolve their legal issues. Our attorneys take the time to get to know each client, learn what happened, and understand their goals and needs.

When you meet with an attorney at our personal injury law firm in Pennsylvania, you will be treated with the respect you deserve. Our legal staff and team of attorneys are compassionate advocates for our clients, and we value the relationships we build with each person we strive to help. Our client-centered approach has helped us achieve recognition for the zealous advocacy and attention we deliver. This approach often helps us to achieve success and the fair compensation that our clients deserve.

We value communication and believe you deserve to know what is happening in your case at any time. We are available to answer questions whenever they might arise and work to keep you informed as events happen in your case. We promptly communicate any offers that might be made by insurance companies to settle claims, and we will honestly advise you about whether it is a good idea to accept an offer or instead reject it and continue negotiating or head to trial.

Our attorneys do not “turn and burn” our clients’ cases. Instead, we thoroughly prepare every case to help our clients recover maximal compensation. Our focus is on providing the highest quality representation while pursuing maximum recovery amounts for our clients instead of focusing on having a greater quantity of cases. Our thorough, careful, client-centered, and legally-informed approach often helps us recover far more compensation for our clients than they might have otherwise been able to receive. Because of our formidable reputation, insurance companies often decide to settle with our clients instead of risking a major loss at trial.

Our Highly Skilled Legal Team

Our firm’s success and reputation are grounded in the members of our highly skilled legal team. Our attorneys have achieved numerous million- and multi-million dollar recoveries on behalf of their clients. Here’s a brief overview of the attorneys who make our firm successful.

Stephen E. Raynes

A renowned attorney who has achieved seven and eight-figure results for clients in more than 100 cases, including many multi-million dollar recoveries of $10 million or more. In 2019 alone, attorney Raynes recovered $34 million on behalf of his clients. He is a member of numerous respected legal organizations and is a fellow of both the International Academy of Trial Lawyers and the American College of Trial Lawyers. He has been named to the Best Lawyers of America for more than 15 years and was selected as the Lawyer of the Year in Philadelphia in 2017 for plaintiffs’ medical malpractice cases. Lawdragon Magazine named Mr. Raynes as one of the best 500 plaintiff’s attorneys in the U.S.

Timothy R. Lawn

Partner Timothy R. Lawn is recognized as one of the best trial lawyers in Pennsylvania and has litigated complex injury cases for more than three decades. Through his dedication and hard work, Mr. Lawn has secured numerous multi-million-dollar recoveries for individual clients. Like Mr. Raynes, Mr. Lawn is a fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers and the American College of Trial Lawyers, which are both invite-only organizations in which membership is reserved for trial lawyers widely recognized as having achieved the pinnacle of success in their legal practices.

Daniel Bencivinga

Attorney Daniel Bengivina joined the firm with a background in journalism and labor and employment law. He has focused on catastrophic injury cases and dedicates to helping people who have suffered severe injuries to recover full compensation whether their injuries have occurred in or out of the workplace. Mr. Bencivenga worked with attorney Stephen Raynes to represent a client before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, helping to expand the state’s tort law concerning the negligent infliction of emotional distress in a medical malpractice case.

Martin K. Brigham

Attorney Brigham is recognized as one of the most preeminent attorneys in the area of defective products. He has won numerous million and multimillion-dollar recoveries for his clients through settlements and verdicts. As a plaintiff’s lawyer in Philadelphia, he has the unique distinction of being selected by insurance counsel for inclusion in the “World’s Leading Product Liability Lawyers.”

Martina Walsh McLaughlin

Attorney Martina Walsh McLaughlin has more than 40 years of experience fighting for the rights of her clients in a broad variety of different types of personal injury and medical malpractice claims. She has achieved recognition in her work fighting for disabled people and children who have suffered abuse and is rated as AV-Preeminent through Martindale-Hubbell.

Bernard Smalley, Sr

Attorney Bernard W. Smalley, Sr. offers more than 40 years of experience advocating for people who have been the victims of corporate and professional negligence. He has successfully recovered millions of dollars for his clients, including numerous individual recoveries of $1 million or more. Mr. Smalley is a fellow of both the International Academy of Trial Lawyers and the American College of Trial Lawyers.

Harold I. Goodman

Attorney Harold I. Goodman has been a highly valued member of the firm since he joined in 1988. In his very first case with the firm, Mr. Goodman represented the Philadelphia School District in a lawsuit over asbestos through which he helped recover $20 million. Mr. Goodman has enjoyed a long and enviable career and earned the recognition of his peers in the legal community, the defense bar, and his clients alike.

Noah J. Goodman

Attorney Noah J. Goodman has already established himself as a dedicated attorney who fights against misconduct. He has successfully held a corporation accountable for corporate malfeasance after the company intentionally concealed information about its intentions with its IPO. Mr. Goodman graduated Magna cum laude, Order of the Coif from Temple University Beasley School of Law.

A. Roy DeCaro

Attorney A. Roy DeCaro has extensive litigation experience and has tried more than 200 cases before juries. He has secured more than 12 jury verdicts for his clients of more than $1 million, including two verdicts of more than $10 million. In 2018, BestLawyers named Mr. DeCaro as the “Best Personal Injury Lawyer of the Year” in Philadelphia.

Regina M. Foley

Attorney Regina M. Foley has established a strong reputation as a dedicated and focused advocate for her clients. Her highly successful track record has resulted in achieving a rating of AV-Preeminent on Martindale-Hubbell, a peer-reviewed recognition reserved for lawyers recognized as having achieved the pinnacle of legal skills and ethics in their practice. Since 2011, Ms. Foley has been repeatedly selected by the Pennsylvania Super Lawyers and named as one of the top 50 female attorneys in Pennsylvania.

Brenda A. Harkavy

Brenda A. Harkavy is well known as a fierce advocate for people who have been injured and harmed by others. She strives to hold institutions accountable on behalf of women, children, and minority groups in the areas of civil sexual abuse law, medical malpractice, and civil rights.

Daniel P. Lawn

Attorney Daniel P. Lawn came to the firm in 2022 after gaining in-depth litigation experience while working at a large, regional law firm for several years. Mr. Lawn graduated Magna cum laude from the University of Pittsburgh before completing his legal education at the Charles Widger School of Law at Villanova University.

Joseph Z. Traub

Attorney Joseph Z. Traub represents those who have suffered catastrophic injuries from defective products, medical errors, unsafe construction sites, and more. He has co-authored the annual supplement to Pennsylvania Torts each year since 2010 with federal judge George McHugh.

Eugene D. McGurk, Jr.

Of counsel with the law firm, Eugene D. McGurk, Jr. has served the law firm and its clients for more than 30 years and has represented multiple clients before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. He is a member of multiple legal organizations and is rated as AV-Preeminent through Martindale-Hubbell.

Nancy Raynes Dubow

Of counsel with the law firm, Nancy Raynes Dubow is an invaluable resource in the area of medical malpractice and professional liability after having served as counsel for the George Washington University Hospital. She is rated as AV-Preeminent through Martindale-Hubbell and offers in-depth insight into the inner workings of medical facilities and what can go wrong.

Comprehensive Range of Personal Injury Practice Areas

Our firm represents tort plaintiffs in a broad range of personal injury matters, including the following:

We represent plaintiffs in claims against those who have harmed them in many different areas of tort law.

Notable Case Results

A few of our firm’s notable case results include the following:

Contact the Most Trusted Personal Injury Law Firm in PA Today

When you have been severely injured because of the actions of someone else, you should reach out to the experienced legal team at the law firm of Raynes & Lawn. Call us for a free consultation today at 1-800-535-1797.

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Raynes & Lawn: Philadelphia’s Premier Personal Injury Law Firm in Pennsylvania