Personal injury lawyers represent plaintiffs in personal injury lawsuits. Often, that means representing clients in negligence or intentional tort cases in court. However, it also means representing clients in arbitration, mediation, dispute resolution and structured settlements. Personal injury lawyers understand how to gather and present evidence to support their clients' claims of injury. A personal injury lawyer is hired by a personal injury victim and is required to zealously represent that victim and to respect the victim's wishes in terms of accepting settlement offers and proceeding to trial. Personal injury lawyers are also known as PI attorneys, negligence lawyers, plaintiff's lawyers and tort attorneys.