If you're looking for a personal injury lawyer in NYC or anywhere in New York State, the ground rules differ from every neighboring state — and the filing deadlines are shorter than most people assume, especially the moment the City, the MTA or NYCHA is involved. The 25 firms below — grouped by borough and region, updated for 2026 — handle plaintiff-side injury claims across the state.
Every New York personal injury lawyer and firm here met the same bar: an active New York office, plaintiff-side injury work as a core practice, contingency representation, and a verifiable public record. The numbering is for navigation, not a rating — no firm is ranked against another, and no firm paid for inclusion. Together they cover Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, Staten Island, Long Island, Westchester, the Hudson Valley and upstate New York — if you're comparing NYC personal injury lawyers specifically, entries 02–18 are the five-borough firms.
This list is published by our firm, and we hold the first position — you should know that before reading further. Led by personal injury attorney John Onal, the firm represents victims of serious accidents across all of New York — Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, the Bronx, Staten Island and Long Island — and New Jersey: car, truck and motorcycle collisions, pedestrian knockdowns, slip and fall, workplace injuries and wrongful death, with full representation in English, Spanish and Turkish. Every case is on contingency: you pay nothing unless we recover for you. Judge us by the same criteria as every firm below.
Injury practice near the World Trade Center known for representing members of the 9/11 community in Victim Compensation Fund claims alongside general personal injury work.
baraschmcgarry.com
Trial firm handling construction accidents, motor vehicle collisions and serious injury litigation across the five boroughs and New York State.
blockotoole.com
One of the city's longest-standing plaintiff firms, concentrated on complex and catastrophic negligence and medical malpractice cases statewide.
gairgair.com
Injury trial practice covering construction accidents, motor vehicle collisions and premises liability throughout the five boroughs.
lawyer1.com
A firm concentrated on medical malpractice and serious injury litigation — the expert-heavy end of plaintiff work where firm resources decide what can be proven.
kdlm.com
Long-established plaintiff practice handling construction accidents, motor vehicle collisions and premises liability claims across New York City.
lipsig.com
Four decades of plaintiff-side injury work across the boroughs, Long Island and Westchester, with home and hospital visits for injured clients.
mirmanlawyers.com
Injury practice with a construction-accident focus — Labor Law §240 "scaffold law" claims are their own discipline in New York, and this firm works in it daily.
perecman.com
Plaintiff firm handling motor vehicle, premises and workplace injury claims, with a substantial appellate practice supporting its trial work.
ppid.com
Statewide plaintiff practice known for its long association with New York firefighter injury litigation alongside general negligence and medical malpractice work.
triallaw1.com
Brooklyn-based trial practice handling car accidents, premises liability and construction injury claims across the five boroughs, with multilingual client service.
866attylaw.com
A quarter-century of injury work concentrated in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx — car, bicycle, pedestrian and rideshare accident claims.
kalawyer.com
Long-running Kings County plaintiff practice covering personal injury, motor vehicle and premises claims in Brooklyn's courts.
brooklynlaw.com
Injury and workers' compensation practice serving the boroughs — relevant when a workplace accident carries both a comp claim and a third-party lawsuit.
shulmanhill.com
Queens-based injury practice serving all five boroughs and Long Island, with particular attention to train and bus accident claims and multilingual representation.
spektorlaw.com
High-volume Queens plaintiff firm handling motor vehicle, premises liability and property damage claims across the boroughs.
saccofillas.com
Queens trial practice representing plaintiffs in auto accidents, medical malpractice, premises liability and workplace injury matters.
sullivangalleshaw.com
Long Island trial firm handling serious injury, medical malpractice and motor vehicle litigation for Nassau, Suffolk and NYC clients.
finzfirm.com
Large plaintiff practice with offices on Long Island and in the city, covering personal injury, mass tort and product liability claims.
yourlawyer.com
Long Island firm concentrating on medical malpractice, serious injury and wrongful death litigation.
sskblaw.com
A Suffolk County fixture for generations, handling personal injury, motor vehicle and premises claims across Long Island.
sibensiben.com
Multi-office Hudson Valley practice handling personal injury, motor vehicle and premises claims from Orange County down into the city.
sobolaw.com
Westchester County injury practice covering motor vehicle, premises liability and workplace accident claims north of the city.
wvelaw.com
Upstate practice concentrated on motor vehicle accident claims, serving western and central New York.
williammattar.com
New York's injury law is not New Jersey's, Connecticut's or Pennsylvania's — and the differences decide real money. Whichever New York injury lawyer you hire, these six rules govern the claim.
Most New York negligence claims must be filed within three years of the injury. Medical malpractice runs two years and six months, and wrongful death two years from the date of death. Generous compared to neighboring states — until a public entity is involved (see rule six), when the clock collapses.
CPLR §214 · §214-a · EPTL §5-4.1
New York is a no-fault auto state: your own policy's basic Personal Injury Protection covers up to $50,000 in medical bills and lost earnings regardless of who caused the crash. The trap is procedural — the no-fault application generally must reach the insurer within 30 days of the accident, one of the shortest paperwork deadlines in any state's injury system.
NY Insurance Law Article 51 · 11 NYCRR 65
You cannot sue for pain and suffering after a New York car accident unless your injuries meet the statutory definition of "serious injury" — categories including fracture, significant disfigurement, permanent loss or limitation of use of a body organ or member, and a 90-out-of-180-days impairment. This threshold is where insurers fight hardest, and where medical documentation from day one decides the outcome.
Insurance Law §5102(d)
Unlike New Jersey's 51% bar, New York reduces your recovery by your share of fault with no cutoff at all: a plaintiff found 90% at fault can still recover the remaining 10%. Partial fault is an argument about amount, never an automatic end to the case.
CPLR §1411
The customary contingency fee in New York personal injury cases is one-third of the recovery, set out in a written retainer filed under court rules — with no fee if there's no recovery. Medical, dental and podiatric malpractice cases run on a lower sliding scale fixed by statute: 30% of the first $250,000, then 25%, 20% and 15% on the following bands, and 10% of everything over $1.25 million. Ask any firm whether case expenses come out before or after the percentage.
Judiciary Law §474 · §474-a
Claims against the City of New York, the MTA, NYCHA, a school district or any other public entity require a formal notice of claim within 90 days — before any lawsuit can exist. The full mechanics are below, because in this state a huge share of accidents involve a public defendant: a city bus, a subway platform, a public-housing stairwell, a municipal pothole.
General Municipal Law §50-e
More New York injury claims die on public-entity procedure than on the merits. If a government body is even possibly at fault — and in this city, it often is — three deadlines run at once, and none of them is the three-year statute everyone assumes they have.
A formal written notice of claim must be served on the correct entity within 90 days of the incident. Serving the wrong agency — the City when it's the Transit Authority, NYCHA when it's a private manager — can be as fatal as serving nothing. Late-notice applications exist, but they're discretionary and no one should plan on winning one.
The entity is entitled to examine you under oath before any lawsuit — a 50-h hearing. It's testimony, it's transcribed, and everything said gets used later. This is the stage where going in without counsel does the most damage.
Suits against most public entities must be filed within one year and ninety days of the incident — not three years. An injured person who waited on the "three-year rule" against the MTA finds out the real deadline passed nearly two years earlier.
Bus and subway cameras, platform footage and incident records are retained on short cycles. A preservation demand in week one is routinely worth more than anything that happens in year one — the same evidence-clock logic as commercial truck claims.
Three years from the injury for most negligence claims (CPLR §214). Medical malpractice is two years and six months; wrongful death is two years. Against the City, the MTA, NYCHA or another public entity: notice of claim in 90 days and suit within one year and 90 days.
The customary fee is one-third of the recovery, on contingency — nothing up front and no fee without a recovery. Medical malpractice runs on the statutory sliding scale under Judiciary Law §474-a, from 30% of the first $250,000 down to 10% above $1.25 million. Ask whether case expenses come out before or after the percentage.
Insurance Law §5102(d) lists the qualifying categories — including fracture, significant disfigurement, permanent loss or significant limitation of use of a body organ or member, and an impairment preventing usual daily activities for 90 of the first 180 days. Without meeting one, there is no pain-and-suffering lawsuit from a car accident — which is why early, consistent medical documentation matters more in New York than almost anywhere.
Yes, but on their timeline, not the normal one: a notice of claim within 90 days, a 50-h examination before suit, and a filing deadline of one year and 90 days. Miss the notice window and the claim is usually gone regardless of how clear the fault was.
Usually yes. New York's pure comparative negligence rule (CPLR §1411) reduces your recovery by your percentage of fault but never eliminates it — there is no 50% cutoff as in New Jersey. Partial fault changes the math, not the existence of the claim.
Yes — Onal Injury Law provides full representation in Turkish as well as English and Spanish, with offices in New York and New Jersey. Türkçe bilgi için buraya tıklayın.
Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
Publisher disclosure. This list is published by Onal Injury Law, which appears first and discloses that placement throughout the page. This is a directory, not a ranking, rating, award, endorsement or "best of" designation: the numbering exists for navigation only, no firm is claimed to be superior to any other firm listed or not listed, and the selection reflects the stated inclusion criteria (active New York office, plaintiff-side injury focus, contingency representation, verifiable public record). It is not the product of an independent rating organization, and no firm paid for, requested, or approved inclusion.
Not legal advice. The information on this page is general information, is not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship with Onal Injury Law or any firm listed. Do not act, or refrain from acting, on anything here without advice from a licensed New York attorney who knows the facts of your situation. Reading this page does not preserve any deadline or right.
Laws and deadlines change — and carry exceptions. Statutes, filing deadlines, damage rules, insurance requirements and fee rules summarized here are simplified, were believed accurate when this page was last reviewed, and may have changed since. Limitations periods in particular are subject to exceptions, extensions and shorter special rules (including for minors, medical malpractice, wrongful death, and claims against public entities) that can only be assessed on your specific facts. Never calculate your own deadline from a web page — any web page.
Accuracy, errors and corrections. Information about other law firms is drawn from those firms' own public statements and public sources, is provided in good faith, and may contain errors or become outdated. Nothing here should be read as a statement about any firm's quality or results. All firm names and marks belong to their owners; inclusion does not imply any affiliation with, or endorsement of or by, Onal Injury Law. Any listed firm may request a correction, update or removal of its entry by contacting us, and good-faith requests are honored promptly.
No warranty; limitation. This page is provided "as is," without warranty of accuracy, completeness or fitness for any purpose, and the publisher is not responsible for decisions made, or deadlines missed, in reliance on it. External links are provided for convenience; the publisher does not control and is not responsible for their content.
Last reviewed 27 July 2026. Reviewed periodically; the page may not reflect legal or factual changes since the date shown.
