Not every injury claim needs a lawyer. If you had a fender-bender, you went to urgent care once, you missed no work, and the insurance company has accepted full responsibility, you can probably handle it yourself.
Most cases are not that case.
You should at least consult a lawyer if any of these are true: you were treated in an ER or admitted to a hospital, your treatment is ongoing, you missed more than a couple of days of work, there's any dispute about fault, the other driver was uninsured or underinsured, you were a passenger in a rideshare, or the crash involves a commercial vehicle.
You should definitely talk to a lawyer if you were hit by a truck, suffered a brain or spine injury, lost a loved one, or had any meaningful surgery or hardware.
Initial consultations are free, and reputable injury firms work on contingency. The downside risk to having a conversation is zero. The downside risk to skipping it can be tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars.
A useful rule of thumb: if you're wondering whether you need a lawyer, you do — at least for a free conversation.
