If you were assaulted and want to know what kind of lawyer you need, the usual answer is a personal injury attorney, who handles civil lawsuits for money damages against the person who hurt you. Depending on your situation, you may also need a lawyer who handles protective orders, a premises liability attorney if the attack happened on someone’s property, or a crime victim advocate to help you through the criminal case. Many assault victims work with more than one of these at the same time, because the civil side and the criminal side of an assault case do completely different things.
Personal Injury Attorney for Money Damages
If you want compensation for medical bills, lost wages, counseling, and pain and suffering, start with a personal injury attorney. These lawyers file civil lawsuits against your attacker as an intentional tort, typically assault or battery. Battery requires showing the other person deliberately made harmful or offensive physical contact with you without your consent.1Cornell Law Institute. Battery
Most personal injury lawyers work on contingency. You pay nothing upfront, and the attorney takes a percentage of whatever you recover. The industry standard is around 33%, climbing toward 40% if the case goes to trial. If you lose, you generally owe no fee, though you should ask upfront whether you’d still be responsible for costs like filing fees, expert witnesses, and depositions.
One thing that surprises many victims: a civil suit can succeed even if the criminal case failed or was never brought. The standards of proof are different. In civil court you only need to show by a “preponderance of the evidence” that the assault happened, meaning a greater than 50% chance your account is true.2Cornell Law Institute. Preponderance of the Evidence That’s much easier to meet than the criminal “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard. The two proceedings are independent.
Civil damages fall into categories. Economic damages cover concrete out-of-pocket losses: hospital bills, prescriptions, physical therapy, missed wages. Non-economic damages cover pain, emotional distress, and reduced quality of life. In particularly egregious cases, courts may award punitive damages, which exist to punish the attacker rather than to compensate you.1Cornell Law Institute. Battery
Premises Liability Attorney When a Business Shares the Blame
Sometimes the person who hit you isn’t the only one legally responsible. If the assault happened in a parking garage, apartment complex, nightclub, hotel, or shopping center, the property owner or business may share liability under a theory called negligent security. The idea is that property owners owe visitors a reasonably safe environment, and when they ignore foreseeable risks of violence, they can be on the hook for what happens.
Foreseeability usually decides these cases. Courts look at whether similar crimes had occurred on or near the property before. A bar with a history of fights that still has no bouncers and no cameras is a far easier case than an attack in a location with no prior incidents. Some courts apply a “totality of the circumstances” test that factors in crime rates in the surrounding area, not just incidents on the specific property.
Why this matters so much: your attacker personally may have no money. A judgment against someone with no assets is often uncollectible. Property owners and businesses, by contrast, usually carry liability insurance. A negligent security claim is often the more realistic path to actually getting paid. If your assault happened on commercial property, raise this specifically when you talk to a personal injury attorney. Not all of them handle premises liability, and the ones who do will want to investigate the property’s history quickly.
Protective Order Attorney When Safety Is the Priority
If your immediate concern is making sure your attacker stays away from you, you need a lawyer who handles protective orders, sometimes called restraining orders. These court orders legally prohibit the person from contacting you, coming near your home or workplace, or threatening you further. Violating a protective order is itself a crime, which gives police a concrete reason to arrest the person on the spot.
The process usually starts with a petition describing the threat or harm. Many courts will issue a temporary emergency order the same day, without the other person present. That temporary order holds until a full hearing, generally scheduled within one to two weeks, where both sides appear and the judge decides whether to issue a longer-term order. Longer-term orders typically last one to five years depending on the jurisdiction, and can often be renewed.
A lawyer’s value here comes down to preparation. These hearings move fast, often under 30 minutes, and judges decide based on what you can show them in that window. Organized evidence, documented threats or injuries, and a clear presentation make a real difference. If your attacker shows up with a lawyer and you don’t have one, you’re at a serious disadvantage.
Protective order attorneys usually charge a flat fee or hourly rate, since there’s no monetary recovery for them to take a cut of. Legal aid organizations handle many of these cases at no cost, particularly where domestic violence is involved.
Victim Advocate for the Criminal Case
Criminal assault charges are brought by the government, not by you. The prosecutor decides whether to file, what to charge, and whether to offer a plea deal. You don’t control any of that. But you have rights in the process, and a crime victim advocate helps you use them.
Advocates aren’t always lawyers. They provide emotional support, explain what’s happening at each stage, connect you with counseling and support services, and often go to court with you. They also help you exercise your rights under the federal Crime Victims’ Rights Act, which include notice of court proceedings and any release of the accused, the right to attend public proceedings, the right to be heard at hearings on release, pleas, and sentencing, and the right to confer with the prosecutor.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3771 – Crime Victims Rights Most states have parallel protections.
One of the strongest tools you have is the victim impact statement, which describes the emotional, physical, and financial harm the crime caused. The judge weighs it at sentencing.4Department of Justice. Victim Impact Statements An advocate or attorney can help you write and deliver it so it carries the full weight of what happened.
In nearly every state, what you tell a victim advocate is confidential and can’t be forced out of them in court. That protection lets you speak honestly. Advocate services are generally free, offered through local prosecutor’s offices, police departments, or nonprofits.
If your attacker is convicted, the judge can order restitution requiring the offender to repay financial losses: medical expenses, counseling, lost income, property damage.5Department of Justice. Restitution Process Restitution does not cover pain and suffering or emotional distress. That gap is one of the main reasons victims pursue a separate civil lawsuit even when restitution has been ordered. Any restitution you collect is usually offset against a civil judgment so you aren’t paid twice for the same expense.
Don’t Miss the Filing Deadline
Every state sets a statute of limitations for filing a civil assault or battery lawsuit. Miss it, and you lose the right to sue no matter how strong your case is. These deadlines vary from as short as one year to as long as six years for assault and battery, and the clock usually starts on the date of the assault.
The practical lesson: talk to a lawyer early, even if you aren’t sure you want to sue, even if you’re still recovering. An initial consultation preserves your options. Most personal injury attorneys offer that first conversation free. Waiting until you feel ready and then finding out your deadline passed months ago is one of the most common and preventable mistakes assault victims make.
If You Can’t Afford a Lawyer
The contingency fee model is itself a form of access. Because a personal injury lawyer only gets paid if you win, limited funds shouldn’t block you from representation as long as your case has merit and provable damages.
For protective orders and other matters that don’t produce a money recovery, the Legal Services Corporation funds 134 independent nonprofit legal aid organizations across every state and U.S. territory, providing free civil legal help to low-income Americans. Local bar associations run lawyer referral services with reduced-rate initial consultations. For domestic violence victims specifically, the National Domestic Violence Hotline (1-800-799-7233) can point you to legal resources in your area. Victim-witness assistance programs run through prosecutor’s offices offer free support navigating the criminal process even though they don’t represent you in a civil suit.
Every state also runs a crime victim compensation program that reimburses victims of violent crimes, including assault, for expenses like medical treatment, mental health counseling, lost wages, and funeral costs.6Office for Victims of Crime. Victim Compensation Most programs cap total awards between $10,000 and $25,000, and most require that you reported the crime to law enforcement, with exceptions for situations where reporting was impractical or dangerous. Compensation pays regardless of whether the attacker was caught or convicted, which fills a critical gap when a civil judgment would be uncollectible.7Office for Victims of Crime. Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) Administrators – Victim Compensation You apply through the program in the state where the crime occurred.