Jessica Burgoyne, leveraging a deep background in research methods and a passion for legal issues, distills complex legal concepts into accessible insights. With over 100 published articles, her work has been featured in Forbes Advisor and other respected publications. Her work, underpinned by rigorous research and a commitment to quality, offers readers trustworthy, actionable information.
Jessica Burgoyne
Jessica Burgoyne, leveraging a deep background in research methods and a passion for legal issues, distills complex legal concepts into accessible insights. With over 100 published articles, her work has been featured in Forbes Advisor and other respected publications. Her work, underpinned by rigorous research and a commitment to quality, offers readers trustworthy, actionable information.
Jeffrey Johnson has written novels and movies in addition to legal analyses of eminent domain and immigration law. His experience in writing engaging fiction makes him uniquely capable of making the most dry and academic legal topics interesting (or as interesting as possible).
Reviewed
Jeffrey Johnson, J.D.
Jeffrey Johnson has written novels and movies in addition to legal analyses of eminent domain and immigration law. His experience in writing engaging fiction makes him uniquely capable of making the most dry and academic legal topics interesting (or as interesting as possible).
Editorial Note: We earn a commission from partner links on Forbes Advisor. Commissions do not affect our editors' opinions or evaluations.
Casinos, concerts and world-class restaurants—Las Vegas has it all. But even amidst the myriad of entertainment options, accidents can still happen. Whether you’ve been injured during a medical procedure, after a fall or in a car accident, a personal injury attorney can help you recover what you need to get you back on your feet.
Here are our picks for the 10 best personal injury lawyers in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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Best Personal Injury Accident Attorneys in Las Vegas
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Filing a Personal Injury Lawsuit in Nevada
If you are injured in Las Vegas, Nevada state laws apply, regardless of whether you live in Nevada or another state. In addition, Nevada personal injury laws can (and do) change very quickly. It’s vital to work with a qualified personal injury attorney to ensure your interests are well-represented.
Nevada Statute of Limitations
The statute of limitations is the amount of time you have to bring a lawsuit after an injury. This is an area where laws have changed (as of June 2023). The statute of limitations can vary depending on how you were hurt (and by whom). Current statutes of limitations in Nevada are as follows:
- You have two years to bring a personal injury lawsuit in most personal injury cases.
- You have four years to bring a medical malpractice suit, or two years after the injury was discovered (whichever is earlier).
Nevada Laws for Personal Injury
There are some specific laws you should be aware of in Nevada:
- Some traffic laws in Nevada are criminal. Until the beginning of 2023, most traffic infractions, including minor ones, carried criminal misdemeanor charges instead of civil infractions. If you’ve received a traffic citation in Nevada, it’s best to check with an attorney to confirm whether the offense is criminal or civil.
- Nevada is a modified comparative negligence state. This means that each party in the case can be assigned a degree of responsibility, rather than always identifying one guilty party and one innocent party. However, you can only collect damages if you were 50% or less responsible for the accident. For example, if a car strikes a pedestrian who was crossing the street not in a crosswalk, the court may determine that the car is 70% responsible for not exercising caution to avoid the pedestrian, but because the pedestrian wasn’t in a crosswalk, they are 30% responsible for the damage. In this instance, the driver could not collect any damages (because their responsibility is greater than 50%). The pedestrian could collect 70% of their damages (30% is deducted to account for the pedestrian’s responsibility in the accident).
- Modified comparative negligence applies to premises liability, as well. If you’re injured in an entertainment venue, your own behavior may be scrutinized and your damages may be reduced if it’s determined that you contributed to an accident. For example, if you are texting while walking down stairs and miss a step, the court could determine that you were partially at fault for the accident. If the court determines you are more than 50% responsible for an accident, you will not be able to collect damages against the premises where the accident took place.
How Can an Attorney Help You?
An attorney can help make your personal injury case more manageable in the following ways:
- Explaining Nevada laws. Nevada laws and statutes are often different from other states, and if you’re from out of the area, you may not understand how these laws affect you. A local attorney can explain what the laws are and what they mean for you.
- Completing paperwork. Civil trials have a mountain of paperwork required, and these documents need to be filled out in a very specific way. A qualified attorney knows how to complete these documents and help ensure that they’re done correctly and in a timely manner.
- Litigating the case, if need be. Most personal injury cases don’t end in a lawsuit; instead, the parties often settle before the case goes to court. But if your case does go to court, you’re going to want a good attorney on your side to make your case.
How to Find the Best Personal Injury Accident Lawyer in Las Vegas, NV
It’s important to realize that you’re not looking for the best attorney; you’re looking for the best attorney for you. You need to be sure that this is someone you can work with, potentially for the long term. Here are some ways to find the right lawyer for you and your case.
- Choose someone with experience in your type of case. Personal injury is a broad field, and a medical malpractice suit is much different from a slip and fall suit. Make sure that the attorney you choose has some background in cases like yours.
- Don’t feel bad about interviewing more than one attorney. Most personal injury lawyers offer free consultations. The point of these meetings is for you to get a feel about whether you and the attorney will work well together. If it doesn’t seem like a good fit, you should keep looking.
- Ask about fees. Personal injury attorneys often work on a contingency basis, meaning that they only get paid if they win your case. Typically, these fees are a percentage of the amount that was recovered, and fall in the 30-40% range. Before you sign a contract, you should understand what you’ll owe your attorney if they win your case.
Methodology
To come up with the Best Personal Injury Lawyers in Las Vegas in 2024, Forbes Advisor considered many factors. Forbes Advisor’s mathematical module considers and weighs the information collected to calculate a specific rating and reviews these results to find the best attorneys in a given practice area.
Within the model, we take into account factors that legal professionals and consumers value in an attorney’s qualifications. After assigning weighted scores to hundreds of data points, we narrowed the field down to our top choices based on:
- Legal experience
- Special licenses & certifications
- Ethics and bar disciplinary measures
- Legal thought leadership
- Education & employment background
- Scholarly lectures & writings
- Awards & honors
Forbes Advisor collects public data from a variety of sources, including state bar associations, court records and other published sources on the internet. This information should not be considered comprehensive, however. It might not include additional relevant information on an attorney’s legal skills and experience.
Each lawyer listed here has their own merits. Bear in mind that our list relates to these lawyers’ legal backgrounds, but does not evaluate their personalities or their knowledge of the law. One attorney may be more suitable than another for your specific legal situation.
One thing that can’t be quantified, though, is the rapport you establish with your attorney. Personality goes a long way when teaming up with an attorney, especially when going through a potentially difficult legal situation. These rankings should serve as a reference and potential starting point in your search for the right lawyer for you and your legal concerns.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
If I’m visiting Las Vegas, do I need to return to Nevada for a court case?
It depends on a lot of factors, but if your case goes all the way to trial, you and your attorney may determine it’s in your best interest to testify, which would involve returning to Nevada. However, most personal injury cases end in a settlement instead of going to trial, and settlements typically don’t require you to return. Make sure you ask your attorney so you know what to expect.
Can I use an out-of-state attorney in Las Vegas?
In order for an attorney to practice in Las Vegas, they must be admitted to the bar in Nevada. This is a long process that attorneys typically only go through if they intend to practice law in the state for the long term. Unless your attorney is licensed to practice in Nevada, they will not be able to represent you in a case that happened in Nevada.
Are all attorneys required to be board certified in personal injury?
All attorneys in Nevada are required to be licensed by the state to practice law. However, attorneys also have the option of becoming board certified in particular areas of law, such as personal injury. To become board certified, a lawyer must spend at least a third of their time working on personal injury cases and take additional training. A board certification is not necessarily a recommendation by the state, but it does show that an attorney has some experience in the personal injury field.
