Does Your Injury Lawyer Actually Try Cases? Why It Changes Your Settlement
Most cases settle, but they settle for more when the lawyer is genuinely ready to try them. Here's why a firm's willingness to go to court changes what your case is worth.
By Adam Fonta, Lionheart Injury Law | Updated June 15, 2026 | 5-minute read
Here is a question most injured people never think to ask, and the one that may matter more than any other: when was the last time this firm actually took a case to trial?
It sounds counterintuitive. The vast majority of injury cases settle, so why would trial experience matter if your case is likely to settle too? The answer is the central, under-appreciated truth of personal injury law: *the amount an insurance company offers to settle depends on what it believes will happen if the case does not settle.* A firm that never tries cases negotiates from weakness. A firm that does negotiates from strength. The difference shows up in the size of the check.
Settlements Happen "in the Shadow of Trial"
When a serious case is valued, the real question on the table is: what would a jury award? That number, the trial value, is the anchor for any fair settlement. An insurance company evaluating your claim is really evaluating its risk at trial: how likely it is to lose, and how much it might have to pay if it does.
This is where the firm you hire quietly changes everything. Stanford law professor Nora Freeman Engstrom, the leading researcher on high-volume injury firms, found that the biggest "settlement mills" do not bargain in the shadow of trial at all. Instead, they "bargain in the shadow of past settlements", settling claims for formulaic going rates worked out over time between the firm's negotiators and the same insurance adjusters they deal with every day. The case is resolved by a routine, not by what a jury might actually award. The result, Engstrom found, is often a recovery that is a fraction of the claim's true value.
Insurance companies know exactly which firms operate this way. They keep track. A firm that advertises heavily and settles everything quickly is a known quantity, the adjuster knows it will take the going rate and move on. A firm that prepares cases for trial and has the verdicts to prove it is a different kind of opponent, and the offers reflect that.
Why "We Prepare for Trial From Day One" Is More Than a Slogan
Trial-readiness is not a switch a firm flips at the courthouse door. It is a way of building the case from the very beginning, preserving evidence, retaining the right experts, developing the medical proof, and documenting the full extent of the harm as if a jury will see it. A case built that way is worth more whether or not it ever reaches a courtroom, because the insurer can see it is built to win.
This is the core of how Lionheart Injury Law works. We prepare every case for trial from day one, which is precisely what tends to produce bigger and faster settlements, the insurer has every incentive to pay fairly rather than face a firm that is ready to try the case. We are a battle-tested trial team, and we are not afraid to take cases to trial, from car accident claims the insurer lowballs to catastrophic injury cases where the trial value is measured in millions, including cases other firms turn away as unwinnable.
The proof is in the gap between what insurers first offered our clients and what those cases ultimately resolved for:
- An oil-and-gas explosion that caused a leg amputation: the insurance company offered $5 million. The verdict was $30 million.
- A wrongful death following a rear-end collision: $500,000 offered, $3 million recovered.
- A fall at a mobile home park causing a leg injury and scarring: the insurer offered $0. The recovery was $2.4 million.
- A motorcycle crash causing a shoulder impairment: $0 offered, $550,000 recovered.
Across our cases, we consistently recover roughly five times the insurance company's first offer.
What This Means for You
The lesson is not that every case should go to trial, most should and will settle. The lesson is that the credible ability to try your case is what makes a fair settlement possible in the first place. When you are deciding whom to hire, a firm's willingness and ability to go the distance is one of the most important and least visible factors in what you will ultimately recover.
How to Tell If a Firm Actually Tries Cases
You do not have to take any firm's word for it. Ask directly, and listen for specifics:
- "When did this firm last take a case to verdict, and what was the result?" A trial-ready firm can answer concretely. A settlement mill will deflect.
- *"Do you have trial attorneys in-house who would try my case, or would you refer it out or settle it?"* Some high-volume firms refer their few litigated cases to other lawyers.
- "What is the largest verdict your firm has won at trial?" Verdicts, not just settlements, show a firm that goes to court.
- "If the insurance company lowballs my claim, are you prepared to file suit and try it?" The answer, and the confidence behind it, tells you a lot.
A firm built to try cases will welcome these questions. A firm built to move volume will change the subject.
The Bottom Line
Most injury cases settle, but they settle for more when the lawyer on the other side is genuinely prepared to try them. The research bears it out: high-volume firms that bargain in the shadow of past settlements, rather than the shadow of trial, tend to leave money on the table. Before you hire anyone, ask whether they actually try cases, and make them prove it. At Lionheart, that readiness is the foundation of how we work, and, we believe, a meaningful part of why our results so often dwarf the insurance company's opening offer.
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