I wrote a Book called “The Dark Side of Practice – An inside look at the dirty side of Personal Injury Practice,” which was originally published in 2021. Writing this book was challenging, to say the least. But before I get to the details on what made the book difficult or challenging to write, I need to explain the context of how and why this book was difficult to write. It’s all rooted in my hate and resentment of the legal field. More specifically, the Personal Injury side of the legal field. What made this book difficult to write were three top issues. How can I dumb down Legal and Medical lingo to the average human? How can I avoid or minimize collateral emotional damage since this book is highly offensive? How can I possibly avoid any possible repercussions from writing a book that is so controversial? After all, I’m throwing Lawyers, Doctors, and Clients under the bus by exposing the entire dirty side of the Personal Injury Legal Practice. Since the third part of the assignment has no relevance to this assignment, I will focus on the first two.
The first difficulty I had, was dumbing down the Legal and Medical lingo or terminology. I am using the term “dumbing down” for a reason. I can be more articulate about the terminology by using terms such as “simplified.” Still, the book itself was designed not only as a platform to vent about my job, with some emotional outbursts but also to educate the average citizen on how the entire legal practice works. At least, the personal injury aspect of the legal practice. I had to work hard to simplify the medical and legal aspects of my book. I also chose a simplified writing style that a 5th grader or an attorney would understand to reach a broader population. Most Americans do not understand trauma diagnostic and care terminology as well as legal understanding that applies to personal injury matters. It took me months to figure out how to redefine medical terminology alone. WebMD is a terrible resource because any diagnosis leads to terminal cancer and medical journals are too complex for an average American.
Similarly, Law is very complex. There is no right way of simplifying legal writing without opening doors to too many interpretations, which can also open doors to misunderstanding. The perfect example of that is the Constitution of the United States of America. People are still arguing over the 2nd Amendment. The solution to all these issues was to create a simplified context as well as a baseline, which the reader can use as a resource based on the context. I have also included some diagrams to simplify medical references.
The second difficulty I had with writing the book was the collateral emotional damage. Due to my resentment of my job as a legal negotiator, the book can be seen as highly offensive and can potentially hurt a lot of feelings. Mainly due to one reason. People have certain expectations. However, their expectations do not line up with reality. I admit. It can be highly offensive because people refuse to objectively see the truth. Most people also have no understanding on how the legal system works nor the nature of their injuries. Most people’s expectations of results are also based on their certain wishful thinking or current financial situation. To mitigate any hurt feelings over the content of my book, I had to include specific medical and legal references based on legal precedence and simplify those references. I have also written a chapter, which outlines various scenarios I have dealt with, affectionately titled “Dealing with Crazy Clients.” The structure of this chapter was very effective in bringing clients to reality. It gave my clients and other readers some taste of reality.
As difficult as it was to write this book due to the technical and emotional nature of the book, based on the responses I have received from the readers, and the fact that my book was a #1 New Release on Amazon, it looks like I did a decent job with the book. Regardless of the challenges of writing such a book. In fact, many lawyers and paralegals are praising this book to this day because I have discussed certain issues, which they want to say to clients but can’t, due to fear. But since I don’t have a law license. That is something I thankfully don’t need to worry about. To this day, the book is still being sold. The 2nd Edition of my book coming soon with more in-depth details on both legal and medical fronts.
