Rikin Morzaria, a graduate of U of T law school, articled at a large national firm and is now a partner at top personal injury law firm McLeish Orlando LLP. He tells PrecedentJD what it’s really like to work in this rewarding but underappreciated field.

Few set out to be personal injury lawyers. How did you end up here?

When I finished articling in 2003, I was looking around at specialized litigation firms. I read what lawyers from McLeish Orlando had written and realized they do really good work. I thought I would give it a year and see how it went. But then I got into it and liked the work.

What are some of the perks of the job?

Personal injury is one of the few areas where they do jury trials in civil litigation. We’re often focus-grouping our cases, testing different ways to present in front of a jury, and I love doing that.

Would you say the hours are comparable to working at a large downtown firm?

Yes. But all of our files are scanned in and we have remote access to them all, so if I’ve got work I have to do in the evening and I want to put my son to bed, I can.

What characteristics should a good personal injury lawyer possess?

You have to like working with people. Your clients are coming to you at their lowest point, so you sometimes end up not just being their lawyer but the person they turn to.

Do you have billable hours?

We track billable hours because there are instances where you need to provide them to a court to justify what you should be paid in costs by the other side if you’re successful. You have to docket, but it’s not a pressure like, “If I don’t hit this target, I’m not going to advance in this firm.”

What’s the largest settlement amount you’ve ever won and what was it for?

$18.4 million. A 15-year-old girl was in a car accident and suffered severe brain and orthopaedic injuries that would require her to have constant supervision for the rest of her life.

What percentage of a settlement does your firm usually take?

We’ll take about 15 percent, on average.

Let’s talk salary.

In your first five years of practice, salaries are pretty commensurate to what you will make at a large Bay Street firm — at least at the top personal injury firms. After that, if you can bring in clients, that can dramatically affect the compensation you receive.

What advice would you give to someone wanting to get into personal injury law?

Find out which firms are the good firms. I’ve been really lucky here. I was out there writing papers and presenting at conferences from a pretty early stage. If you end up at the wrong place, that may not be available to you.

If you could give your law school self some advice from the future, what would it be?

Research the opportunities out there. When I was at U of T, our holy grail was to be a partner at one of the large firms. That’s still a perfectly valid thing to want, but there are a lot more opportunities that are equally satisfying. As long as you are doing good quality work and become the best lawyer you can be, you’re going to be happy and successful, whatever field you pick.