One of the best things a lawyer can do is show the ability to relate to his or her clients.  When I’ve been in that situation myself it helps me relate better to callers.  For example, years ago I tore my rotator cuff.  When I talk to people with the same injury it helps me relate to what they are going through.  I’ve never been divorced, but know many people that have.  So I feel that I have a good understanding of what the people who call me looking for an Illinois divorce lawyer referral are going through.

I don’t necessarily want to relate to most of the calls that I get on the phone.  Who would choose to go through a divorce or have a loved one die?  But life gets in the way and things happen that aren’t always great.  Sometimes that allows me to relate to callers if I look on the bright side of things.

That happened over the weekend.  I had taken my older son to a  movie and we were driving home.  We stopped at a stop light and were in the middle of talking to each other when WHAM!!!, we were struck from behind.  That had never happened to me before.  I was ten yards from the car in front of me and had my foot pressed on the brake pedal.  That didn’t prevent me from being thrust forward and hitting the car in front of me.

It was a scary moment because we were hit really hard.  Before I could look back to check on my son, a panic rushed through me that he was hurt.  Fortunately, other than being a little scared, he was fine.  I was a bit in shock too.  I’ve been a little sore since this happened, but haven’t felt the need to see a doctor yet.  The driver in front of me was ok and the driver that hit me was too.  My car on the other hand had the back bumper ripped off and the front bumper isn’t looking too pretty either.

I asked the woman who hit me what happened and she said that she looked down to see who was calling on her cell phone. The next thing she knew is that she hit me.  The cops were called, she got a ticket.  I talked to my insurance and they are going to take care of everything.  It’s a big hassle, but I know that it could have been much worse.

The silver lining is that I will be able to relate to anyone that calls me looking for a car accident lawyer.  In the short time this happened I went from scared, to mad, to happy, to annoyed.  Once the emotions cooled down I became more big picture ok with everything.

It’s not as if I couldn’t do my job before this, but any time I can relate to someone it makes me and them feel better.  So I’m not thrilled about what happened over the weekend, but it could be worse and there are some positives.