Personal injury law was enacted to ensure that individuals who suffered misfortune as a result of the negligence of others are adequately compensated for medical expenses, loss of wages, emotional distress or disability. Personal injury suits are commonly referred to as tort cases.

The most important premise in personal injury cases is negligence. Without establishing negligence by the defendant, a personal injury claim may not arise. Negligence is the failure to exercise certain standard of care expected from a reasonably prudent person in certain circumstances. For instance, a driver is required by law to follow traffic rules, such as driving at a certain speed and stopping at certain locations. When the driver is speed driving and causes injury to someone else, the driver is negligent as he was not driving according to what is required of him by the law. In another case, employers are required by law to provide protective gears to employees who are exposed to risky work. If these employees are injured as a result of not being provided protective gear, the employers are negligent and will be liable by law.

Once negligence is proven, the defendant is required to compensate the plaintiff for all injuries. Damages include punitive damages, property damage, medical expenses, and emotional distress. The calculation of damages for some injuries are easy, while the calculation of other damages may be difficult. For instance, the calculation of loss of earning capacity may require expert testimony.

Filing a personal injury suit is not as easy as proving negligence. One of the difficult aspects prior to initiating a personal injury suit would be identifying the proper defendant. It is thus imperative to hire an expert attorney to help the plaintiff identify the negligent defendants and additional defendants who may be liable for the negligence. Additional defendants could mean a landlord, in the case of a slip-and-fall accident, or insurance companies.

While negligence is an important aspect of personal injury cases, personal injury damages can also be claimed as a result of the intentional acts of other people. In these types of cases, which include assault, trespass, false imprisonment, the defendant intentionally inflicted injuries upon the plaintiff. A defendant may also be held liable, despite exhibiting standard of care required by law. This is called strict liability and happens in cases like demolitions or transporting hazardous materials.

Defective products also result to personal injuries. In defective product suits, the plaintiff will prove that the manufacturer's negligence in the design and sale of a product resulted to personal injuries. Manufacturers can also be sued for strict liability. Large class action lawsuits often start out as product liability cases.

Personal injury law does not just give those who suffered injuries remedies from the law, personal injury law also gives those who are accused of negligence defenses to ward off abusive claims. A defendant may argue three things to relieve him of any liability: (1) the plaintiff was partially or wholly responsible for his action; (2) the plaintiff assumed the risk; and (3) the plaintiff allowed the action that caused his personal injury. Many personal injury suits have been successfully thrown out because the defendants presented strong arguments. It is thus crucial to hire an expert personal injury attorney to ensure that personal injuries are compensated for.

White-collar crime is a term used to refer to crimes committed by people with sophisticated knowledge or sophisticated means for financial gain. The term derives from white-collar job, which means any work performed in an office or administrative setting. Because white-collar crimes are committed by sophisticated people or through sophisticated means, they are difficult to detect, which explains why the after-effect of white-collar crimes are millions in financial losses. The recent years saw several billion-dollar white-collar crime in the United States, such as the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme. Most often, the target of white-collar crimes are vulnerable and unsophisticated people who are easily tricked into handing over their money to what they thought were legitimate investments.

There are numerous white-collar crimes, the most common of which are antitrust violations, internet and telemarketing scams, credit card fraud, mail fraud, securities fraud, insider trading, and embezzlement. Other white-collar crimes include bankruptcy fraud, environmental law violations, insurance fraud, tax evasion, money laundering, and trade secret theft. White-collar crimes are also committed in relation to government transactions. These crimes include bribery, kickbacks, corruption, and economic espionage.

Both the federal government, through its web of law enforcement agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and state governments, through their local police departments, are in concerted efforts to go after white-collar crime perpetrators given that these crimes, according to studies, cost the U.S. Government more than $300 billion annually. White-collar crime law is composed of complicated rules and regulations that touch on almost all other areas of the law. Most of those who were accused and convicted of white-collar crimes are individuals, but the government can impose sanctions on the company as well to serve as a warning that the company also has responsibility over its employees. Financial losses as a result of white-collar crimes reach millions, so penalties are steep. In addition to penalties, those convicted of white-collar may be placed in house arrest or imprisoned. Depending on the amount of losses that result from the white-collar crimes, the penalties may range from mere thousands of dollars to millions of dollars.

There is wide coverage on white-collar crimes, especially when millions of dollars of losses are involved. It is thus not easy to be charged with such crime. Before making a move towards countering a prosecutor's charge, it is the best idea to hire an expert white-collar crime law attorney to serve as defense counsel. This is because white-collar crimes are difficult to defend, much so because politics and power play are often involved. This is not to say that those accused of white-collar crimes have no other resort. Defenses available to non-white-collar crimes are also available to white-collar crimes. The common argument the accused use as defense would be entrapment, which means that the accused had no choice but to commit the crime because he was forced by another person or by circumstances. There are numerous defenses for the accused, but the key to winning against white-collar crime charges is an expert white-collar crime defense attorney.