Ontario Injury Lawyer: Is it okay to want a woman lawyer?
When you have been involved in a serious accident and you know you need an Ottawa personal injury lawyer, there are a lot of considerations. How you choose your personal injury lawyer will in many ways dictate the outcome of your case. It will certainly impact your experience during the claim. Having a skilled personal injury lawyer who is also a good fit with your personality type and needs will make your claim process more enjoyable and less stressful.
Can the gender of the lawyer have anything to do with it? Sometimes.
Because our senior personal injury lawyer is a woman, Brenda Hollingsworth, we often have women clients who contact us knowing that they want to be represented by a woman. The desire to have a female personal injury lawyer may be in part because the client knows that the lawyer will be reviewing medical records, not just from the accident but also for several years before the accident. Some clients feel more comfortable knowing it is a woman who will be doing this review.
Other reasons we hear include the fact that some female clients feel more comfortable talking about the emotional or psychological aspects of an accident with a woman. A very high percentage of our clients feel post-traumatic anxiety, driving fears, depression or some other psychological issues following their accident. On a related note, some women feel guilty after an accident about their inability to fulfill their family duties and care for their children after an accident. They may find it easier to discuss this with a fellow mother who understands exactly what they are talking about.
Does this mean all Ontario women injury clients need a woman personal injury lawyer? No, it does not. There are excellent male personal injury lawyers in Ontario (in fact, we have a few at our firm too!). However, what it does mean is that women injury victims should not feel strange or awkward requesting that a woman represent them in their Ontario accident case. It is a matter of choice.
Brenda Hollingsworth is the author of: “Crash Course: A Savvy Woman’s Guide to Ontario Car Accident Claims”. She can be reached at [email protected].
