Does Your NJ Personal Injury Trial Attorney Actually Take Cases to Trial?

Most New Jersey injury cases settle. Only about 3 percent of tort cases nationally end in a trial verdict. But the insurer prices your settlement on what a jury would likely do, so a firm’s real willingness to try cases sets the ceiling on your offer. Here is how to tell whether a firm is trial-ready, and how to verify it.

How many personal injury cases actually go to trial?

About 3 percent of tort, contract and property cases in state courts are resolved by a jury or bench trial, according to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics’ Civil Bench and Jury Trials in State Courts survey. The figure is national; New Jersey’s court rules push even harder toward settlement, as we explain below.

Two more numbers from that survey matter: Plaintiffs won about 52 percent of tort trials overall, with 64 percent of them being motor vehicle accident trials.

The phrases gets used loosely: a trial attorney actually stands in front of juries and tries cases to a verdict. A litigator handles lawsuits, meaning filings, motions and depositions, but may rarely or never try one. Many firms use “trial lawyers” as a slogan. Below is how you check.

Why so few New Jersey injury cases reach a jury

New Jersey builds settlement checkpoints into every injury lawsuit before a jury is selected, and the biggest is mandatory arbitration. Under Court Rule 4:21A, auto negligence cases and other personal injury suits go to a non-binding arbitration first. A court-appointed arbitrator hears a condensed version of the case and issues an award.

“Non-binding” is the key word here. Either side can reject the award by filing a demand for trial de novo (a fresh trial, as if the arbitration never happened) within 30 days of the award and paying a fee the Supreme Court of $265 as of July 1, 2025. If you miss the 30 days, the award becomes the judgment.

This is the moment a firm’s trial readiness stops being a slogan and becomes visible to the insurer. If the award is low and your lawyer files the de novo demand, the adjuster knows a jury date is coming and that your side is willing to get there. If your lawyer’s habit is to accept whatever the arbitrator says, the adjuster knows that too, and will price accordingly. Many cases then resolve at mediation or a settlement conference, on numbers that reflect the trial date.

How an insurer prices your case, and why trial readiness raises the number

An adjuster’s offer is a prediction. Early on, the insurer sets a reserve, the amount it expects to pay, calculated from four questions: How clear is liability? What are the medical bills, lost wages and permanent effects? What are the policy limits? And how likely is it that this particular lawyer takes the case to a jury, and what would that cost? The fourth question is about your law firm, not your case. This is why picking the right law firm is an important matter!

New Jersey gives a trial-ready plaintiff tools that make a lowball offer expensive for the insurer:

Offer of judgment (Rule 4:58). Your lawyer can make a formal written settlement offer. If the insurer refuses and a jury later awards at least 120 percent of it, the defense generally must pay your reasonable attorney’s fees, litigation expenses and interest on top of the verdict, as the New Jersey Supreme Court shown in Best v. C&M Door Controls. The offer only has strength if the insurer believes the trial will happen.
Prejudgment interest (Rule 4:42-11(b)). In tort cases, interest on a verdict generally runs from the date the suit was filed or six months after the injury, whichever is later (rule text). Waiting you out costs the insurer money.
The verbal threshold (N.J.S.A. 39:6A-8). If your own auto policy has the “limitation on lawsuit” option, you can recover for pain and suffering only if your injury fits one of the statute’s categories: death, dismemberment, significant disfigurement or scarring, a displaced fracture, loss of a fetus, or a permanent injury that will not heal to normal function. Insurers often dispute permanency, and answering that challenge through the treating doctor’s certification and the defense examiner’s cross-examination is trial work.
Policy limits exposure. When the injury is serious and the at-fault driver’s policy is modest, a credible trial date is often what moves the insurer to offer its full policy limits rather than a fraction of them.

None of this requires your case to actually be tried. It requires the insurer to believe it could be.

What “Certified Civil Trial Attorney” means in New Jersey

A Certified Civil Trial Attorney is a lawyer the Supreme Court of New Jersey has formally recognized, through its Board on Attorney Certification under Court Rule 1:39, as having proven trial experience in civil cases. It comes from the court system itself, not a membership group or paid directory.

According to the Board on Attorney Certification, an attorney must:

Be a member in good standing of the New Jersey Bar for at least five years.
Complete required continuing legal education in the three years before applying.
Demonstrate substantial involvement in litigated matters, which the Board’s regulations measure through completed trials, motion practice, depositions and regular courtroom appearances.
Submit judges and attorneys as references who will vouch for the applicant’s character and ability.
Pass a written examination in civil trial law.

Certification lasts five years and must be renewed. The Board describes its purpose as helping “consumers make an informed decision when seeking and selecting a lawyer” and protecting them from false advertising, so only attorneys the Board has certified may use the title. Only a small fraction of New Jersey’s roughly 100,000 lawyers in active status hold it.

One rule tells you what other lawyers think of the designation. Under Rule 1:39-6(d), covered in the Board’s regulations, a certified attorney may share a fee with the lawyer who referred the case, even if the referring lawyer does none of the work. Put simply: when a general practice lawyer gets a client with a serious injury, the rules make it easy to hand that case to a certified trial attorney. The rules are built to make that hand-off easy, which tells you how the profession regards the designation.

How to verify it. Do not rely on a website badge. Go to the Board on Attorney Certification page on njcourts.gov, click “Find a Certified Attorney,” and type in the lawyer’s name. If the name is not there, the lawyer is not certified.

Seven questions to ask before you hire a New Jersey injury firm

Ask these at the free consultation. A firm that tries cases will answer easily; a firm that does not will get vague.

Is anyone here Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Civil Trial Attorney? Then check the njcourts.gov search yourself.
How many cases has the firm taken to a jury verdict in the last three years, and in which counties? A firm that tries cases in Essex, Passaic or Bergen County will know the judges, the arbitration panels and the local timelines.
Who will actually try my case? Some firms hand trials to an outside lawyer at the last minute.
Who advances expert costs? A serious injury trial may need a surgeon, an accident reconstructionist and an economist. Ask whether the firm fronts those costs.
Who decides whether to accept an arbitration award or demand trial de novo? The right answer is that you decide, after the attorney explains the risks. Be cautious if the answer suggests the firm decides for you.
Which of your results came from a verdict, or a settlement reached after a trial date was set?
If Spanish is my first language, will I speak with my attorney and paralegal directly, or through a translator?

What the path to a New Jersey injury trial looks like

A personal injury lawsuit in New Jersey usually takes one to three years from filing to resolution, and it moves through a set sequence.

Complaint. Your lawyer files a complaint in the Law Division of the Superior Court. Under N.J.S.A. 2A:14-2, an injury lawsuit generally must be filed within two years of the accident. That is a reason to get answers early, because investigation and medical documentation take time. See our guide on how long you have to file in New Jersey.
Track assignment and discovery. Standard injury cases go to Track II, with 300 days for discovery. Discovery is where both sides share evidence: written questions, records, depositions (sworn interviews), and the defense medical exam by the insurer’s chosen doctor. This stage takes longer than most people expect, mainly because your treatment has to progress far enough for doctors to say what is permanent.
Arbitration, then the 30-day window to demand trial de novo.
Mediation or settlement conference, often with a judge right before trial.
Trial. A New Jersey civil jury has six jurors, and five must agree on a verdict. Length varies with the number of witnesses and experts, and your attorney should give you a realistic estimate before the trial date.
Verdict and post-trial motions. Either side can ask the judge to adjust the verdict or appeal. Payment generally follows once those windows close.

Should you settle or go to trial? The decision is yours

The choice to accept an offer or try the case is yours, and a good firm will not take it from you or pressure you either way. The firm owes you a plain-language comparison of the certain number on the table against the range a jury might return, the time a trial adds, and the costs that come out of a verdict.

The factors that matter most are the strength of the liability evidence, how well your injuries are documented as permanent, the policy limits available, and how juries in your county tend to view cases like yours. Under N.J.S.A. 2A:15-5.1, New Jersey is a modified comparative negligence state: if a jury finds you partly at fault, your award is reduced by that percentage, and if you are more than 50 percent at fault, you recover nothing. A case where the insurer argues you were 30 percent responsible carries different trial risk than one where liability is undisputed.

Why do lawyers want to settle out of court? Often for good reasons: a settlement is certain, faster, and avoids the chance of a defense verdict. The problem is when the firm’s economics, not your case, drive the recommendation. A firm that never tries cases has every incentive to take the early number. A firm that does can tell you honestly when the offer is fair, because the alternative is real to them too.

How we handle this at Birkhold & Maider

We handle only personal injury and workers’ compensation cases from our office in Montclair, with most of our clients coming from Essex, Passaic and Bergen counties. Our team includes an attorney Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Civil Trial Attorney, and our partners have practiced law since 2006, with extensive experience in the Superior Court of New Jersey and the Appellate Division. Partner Kevin Decie joined us after more than two decades as a litigator, with seven-figure settlements and verdicts behind him. You can meet the whole team on our attorneys page.

One attorney owns your case from the day you hire us to the day it resolves, supported by a paralegal you can reach by phone or text. We reach out before you have to ask, and no offer is accepted or rejected, and no de novo demand is filed, without your informed consent. Our whole firm works in English and Spanish, from intake through paralegals to the attorney who sits with you when an offer comes in.

Our documented results include a $2.5 million settlement for a woman struck by a commercial van who needed two spinal surgeries, and $1.875 million for a man T-boned at an intersection who needed a cervical fusion. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes; every case depends on its own facts, injuries and available insurance.

Frequently Asked Questions

What percentage of personal injury cases go to trial in New Jersey?

New Jersey does not publish a separate figure, but the Bureau of Justice Statistics found about 3 percent of tort cases nationally are resolved by trial, and New Jersey’s mandatory arbitration and mediation rules push settlement at least as hard as other states. Roughly 95 percent or more of injury claims resolve without a verdict.

Is it better to settle or go to trial?

It depends on the gap between the offer and a realistic verdict range, the strength of your liability and permanency evidence, and how much time and risk you can carry. A settlement is certain and faster; a trial can produce more, or less, or nothing. The decision is yours, and your attorney should lay out both sides in plain language first.

What is a Certified Civil Trial Attorney?

A designation granted by the Supreme Court of New Jersey through its Board on Attorney Certification under Rule 1:39. The attorney must have at least five years at the bar, documented substantial trial and litigation experience, favorable references from judges and lawyers, required continuing education, and a passing score on a written exam, and must recertify every five years.

How do I check whether a New Jersey lawyer is certified?

Use the “Find a Certified Attorney” search on the Board on Attorney Certification page at njcourts.gov. Only attorneys the Board has certified may use the title, so if the name is not in the search, the lawyer is not certified.

Do personal injury lawyers actually go to court?

Some do, and many do not. Every injury lawyer files papers and attends arbitration; far fewer pick a jury and try a case to verdict. Ask how many verdicts the firm has had in the last three years and who tried them.

Will my case go to trial if I hire a trial attorney?

Probably not. Hiring a firm that tries cases tends to make trial less likely, because the insurer prices the case knowing a jury is a real possibility and usually makes a fairer offer earlier. The capability lifts the offer; the trial itself is the exception.

What are my chances of winning a personal injury lawsuit at trial?

Nationally, plaintiffs won about 52 percent of tort trials and about 64 percent of motor vehicle accident trials in the Bureau of Justice Statistics survey. Your own odds depend on liability evidence, medical proof of a permanent injury, your share of fault under New Jersey’s comparative negligence rule, and the county where the case is tried.

Tell Us What Happened

If you were hurt in New Jersey and are trying to judge whether the offer you have, or the lawyer you are considering, is the right one, we will walk through it with you. The case evaluation is free, in English or Spanish, and there is no fee unless we recover for you. Call 973-319-7795 or reach us through our contact page. Let’s Talk Through It.