When you or someone you love has been seriously injured or killed in a truck accident, choosing the right attorney can mean the difference between a fair recovery and a settlement that doesn’t come close to covering your losses. Dozens of personal injury attorneys in Virginia say they handle truck accident cases. But here is something critical you need to understand: handling truck accident cases and specializing in them are two entirely different things.
I’m attorney Robert Byrne, and as of 2025, I’m Virginia’s only board-certified attorney in truck accident law. In this article, I want to explain what that certification means, why it matters for your case, and why so few attorneys have earned this important credential.
What Is Board Certification in Truck Accident Law?
Board certification is the legal profession’s equivalent of medical specialization. Think of how in medicine there are board certified specialists. Those could be neurologists, cardiologists, orthopedic surgeons, and many other medical specialists.
Before diving into the details, please watch this video where I explain what board certification in truck accident law means and why it matters:
Video Transcript: What Does Board Certification in Truck Accident Law Mean?
Watch as Virginia’s only board-certified truck accident attorney explains what board certification means, the rigorous requirements to earn it, and why it matters when choosing legal representation after a truck crash.
Click to Read Full Video Transcript
Introduction
Hi everyone, I’m Bob Byrne. I’m proud to say that I’m the first and only attorney in Virginia who is board-certified in truck accident law.
So if you or someone you know has been involved in a truck crash, you may be looking at various attorneys and trying to figure out how to separate one from the other. There’s attorneys everywhere who handle plaintiff’s personal injury, or at least say they do.
You’ve probably seen some of us have this designation that says that we are board-certified in truck accident law. And you’re wondering, what does that mean?
So today I want to talk about what board certification is, what it means, and how you’re probably best served by finding a board-certified truck accident law attorney to help you in your case.
The Medical Analogy: What Board Certification Means
Board certification—you’ve probably seen a lot with medical professionals. You could have a board-certified cardiologist, a board-certified neurologist, a board-certified orthopedic surgeon.
And for those doctors, it’s a way that it sets them apart as the experts in their field. They’re the ones who’ve gone through a bunch of different additional steps to set themselves apart and to show that they are leaders and some of the top medical providers in that field.
The same thing is true when you’re talking about board certification for truck accident law.
What Board Certification Requires
Board certification proves that a lawyer has gone through a pretty rigorous process. So the truck accident law certification comes from the National Board of Trial Advocacy. And the American Bar Association has recognized that the National Board of Trial Advocacy has the ability to set standards so that people can set themselves apart and become board certified.
To get the board certification, a lawyer has to:
Pass a Mini Bar Exam: First of all, pass a mini bar exam, which is usually a one-day exam as opposed to a two-day bar exam. The morning is set up to answer essay questions. Then the afternoon, we have multiple-choice questions that deal with trucking law, evidence law, civil procedure, and ethics.
Demonstrate Deep Experience: A lawyer will have to show that they have deep experience handling truck accident cases—from taking depositions, from doing trials, from dealing with subject matter experts within the truck accident law field.
Obtain Attorney References: Then we have to have references from attorneys who can verify that we have handled truck accident cases and were able to do so. And some of those attorneys have to have been opponents of ours.
Obtain Judicial References: And then we also have to get similar references from judges who we have appeared in front of.
Commit to Continuing Education: Finally, to get board certified, we have to commit to ongoing education in trucking law.
Why Truck Accident Law Requires Specialization
And the reason why this board certification exists is because truck crashes are very, very different than car accident cases. I’ve done a video that explains how truck crashes are different than car accidents. Check that out if you want more information about this.
But it’s important to remember that truck crash cases are not just big versions of automobile crash cases. There are entirely different bodies of law that apply between truck crashes and car crashes.
Key Differences Include:
Different Laws Apply: There are entirely different bodies of law that apply between truck crashes and car crashes.
Different Physics and Science: You can have different kind of scientific principles given the size and the weight and the mass of a truck compared to a passenger automobile.
Catastrophic Injuries: Usually the injuries are vastly different when you’re talking about a truck crash case and they can be catastrophic and of course can even result in death.
Different Technology: The technology is different, not just with the telematics but with the braking systems, the steering systems, and other components of trucks.
Multiple Parties: And then the parties can be much different. Instead of just a driver like you’d have in a car crash case, you could have multiple parties that are involved in truck crash cases.
Complex Insurance Issues: The insurance issues involved in truck crashes is vastly different than what you see in car crash cases.
To be board certified, you have to know all of this stuff inside and out. And so, it’s not the sort of thing that you’re going to learn on the fly. It’s not the sort of stuff that you’re just going to have passing knowledge of. It’s stuff that you need to know in depth and that you know some of the leading cases in the country on these things, that you’re able to handle these cases from start to finish.
Board Certification Cannot Be Faked
And so in that way, board certification is not something you can fake. It’s not something that you can buy. It’s something that you have to earn. And it’s something that requires a ton of hard work, a lot of dedication, and really digging deep in understanding these cases and handling them successfully for clients over a long period of time.
What Board Certification Means for Clients
So for someone who’s looking for a truck accident attorney, finding someone who is board certified means that they are getting someone who has satisfied objective standards to show their experience, their skill, their knowledge.
And so you’re not just relying upon what they’re saying about what they’re able to do. You’re actually getting someone else vouching for them, including other attorneys, judges, and a certifying agency that has designed a really, really difficult examination that has to be passed.
So, hiring a board certified attorney means you’re getting someone who’s proven that they not just know the law, they not just know the technology, they not just know how to find the proper parties, but they’ve shown that they can successfully handle these cases and achieve great outcomes for their clients.
What the Other Side Knows
When you hire someone who is board certified in truck accident law, the other side will know who they’re going up against—someone who knows the law, someone who is going to conduct a very thorough investigation to figure out exactly what went wrong, and someone who’s willing to fight because they know what they’re doing, and they’re going to keep going until they get the best result for their client.
Virginia’s Only Board Certified Truck Accident Attorney
So, here in Virginia, I am the only attorney who has board certification in truck accident law. That’s something that I worked really hard for. It’s something that I take very seriously and it’s something that I use to benefit my clients in really difficult and terrible truck accident cases. And frankly, it’s something that drives me to keep learning and improving as an attorney every single day.
Finding the Right Attorney
If you or a loved one were involved in a truck crash and you’re looking for an attorney who can handle your case, find someone who is board certified in truck accident law. They’ve set themselves apart in terms of their abilities, in terms of their skills, in terms of their knowledge, and in terms of how they’re willing to fight for their clients.
If you’re looking for an attorney who fits that bill, reach out to me. I’ll be happy to point you in the right direction to show you where to go to find an attorney who is board certified.
But thank you for watching this video. I do appreciate it. If you haven’t yet, please subscribe and stay tuned for more videos. Thanks.
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Key Takeaways: What Board Certification Means
- Only ~100 attorneys nationwide are board certified – This is an extremely rare and prestigious credential in truck accident law
- Rigorous examination required – Must pass a one-day mini bar exam covering trucking law, evidence, civil procedure, and ethics
- Proven trial experience mandatory – Must demonstrate extensive experience taking depositions, conducting trials, and working with expert witnesses
- Peer and judicial review – Requires references from opposing attorneys and judges who can verify competence and ethics
- Continuing education commitment – Board certified attorneys must maintain ongoing education in trucking law
- Cannot be faked or bought – Board certification must be earned through hard work, dedication, and proven results
- Truck cases require specialization – Different laws, physics, technology, parties, and insurance than car accident cases
- Objective third-party verification – The National Board of Trial Advocacy (recognized by the ABA) validates expertise
- Defense knows who they’re facing – Board certification signals to trucking companies you have an experienced, knowledgeable attorney
- Virginia has only one – Bob Byrne is Virginia’s first and only board-certified truck accident attorney
Requirements for Board Certification in Truck Accident Law:
- Pass Specialized Bar Exam – One-day examination with essay and multiple-choice questions
- Demonstrate Deep Case Experience – Proven track record of handling truck accident cases through all stages
- Attorney References – Verification from other attorneys, including former opponents
- Judicial References – Approval from judges before whom the attorney has appeared
- Ongoing Education – Commitment to continuing legal education in trucking law
- Ethical Standing – Must maintain high ethical standards verified by peers and judiciary
Now let’s explore this in more detail. Specialists set themselves apart from general practitioners. They typically handle only one area or it is their primary area of focus. This deep focus allows those specialists to handle the most serious and difficult cases.
So just as you would not want a general practitioner performing brain surgery on you, you should not trust your catastrophic truck accident case to an attorney who primarily handles other types of cases.
The Academy of Truck Accident Attorneys (ATAA) offers the only board certification in truck accident law in the United States. This certification is granted through the National Board of Trial Advocacy. The NBTA vets attorneys to ensure they have special expertise that sets them apart. Here is a link to show my board certification in truck accident law.
To earn the Truck Accident Law board certification, an attorney must:
Demonstrate Substantial Experience:
The attorney must have handled a significant number of truck accident cases involving commercial motor vehicles, with a track record of successful outcomes for clients. Commercial motor vehicles can include tractor trailers or semi trucks, commercial dump trucks, Amazon delivery vans, and a large variety of other commercial vehicles.
Pass a Rigorous Examination:
The certification exam tests an attorney’s knowledge of federal motor carrier safety regulations, hours of service rules, commercial driver qualification standards, and the complex web of federal and state laws that govern the trucking industry.
Prove Specialized Knowledge:
Board certification requires mastery of issues that simply do not arise in regular car accident cases. Examples include freight broker liability, motor carrier negligence, FMCSA compliance, electronic logging device analysis, driver qualification issues, safe driving practices, and many other topics. There is interaction between federal transportation law and state tort law.
Maintain Continuing Education:
Board certification is not a one-time achievement. Certified attorneys must stay current on developments in trucking law, safety regulations, and litigation strategies through ongoing education.
Meet Ethical Standards:
The attorney must demonstrate the highest standards of professional conduct and receive peer recommendations attesting to their competence and character. To get this certification, I had to get recommendations from judges I have appeared in front of, attorneys I have worked with and against, and experts in the field of truck accident law.
As of now, I’m the only attorney in Virginia who has met all these requirements and earned board certification in truck accident law.
For a legal consultation with a personal injury lawyer, call (434) 817-3100
Why Truck Accident Cases Require Specialized Knowledge
If you’ve never been involved in a truck accident case, you might wonder: isn’t a crash just a crash? Can’t any good personal injury lawyer handle it?
The answer is no, and there are a number of reasons why. If you are more of a video person, you can video my YouTube channel to view Truck vs. Car Crashes: What Victims Must Know.
Federal Regulations Govern Everything
Unlike car accidents, truck accidents involve a comprehensive federal regulatory framework. They do not just involve traffic laws. This means that the federal government is heavily involved in monitoring and governing the trucking industry. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) contain hundreds of pages of rules covering:
- How many hours a truck driver can legally operate before taking mandatory rest breaks
- What medical conditions disqualify someone from holding a commercial driver’s license
- How trucking companies must maintain their vehicles
- What records motor carriers must keep and for how long
- How cargo must be properly secured
- What qualifications drivers must have before getting behind the wheel of an 80,000-pound vehicle
An attorney who doesn’t understand these regulations will miss critical evidence of negligence. They will not know which documents to demand in discovery. Those attorneys will not recognize when a trucking company has violated federal safety standards. They will not be able to effectively cross-examine the trucking company’s safety expert at trial. And they will not be able to compile this information to build a strong case against the trucking company.
Multiple Parties May Be Liable
In a typical car accident, liability is usually straightforward. You are probably dealing only with the driver who caused the crash and their insurance company.
Truck accident cases are exponentially more complex. They involve matters of corporate law, commercial transactions, regulatory compliance, accident reconstruction, and numerous other technical and legally complicated matters.
In my practice, I regularly pursue claims against:
- The truck driver who violated safety regulations or drove negligently
- The trucking company (also called a motor carrier) that hired an unqualified driver, failed to properly train them, failed to remove them from driving when it became clear that they were unsafe, or pressured them to violate hours of service rules
- The freight broker who arranged the shipment but failed to properly vet the carrier they hired
- Third-party logistics companies who coordinated the transportation
- The shipper who may have improperly loaded cargo or demanded unrealistic delivery schedules
- Maintenance companies that failed to properly inspect or repair the truck
- Parts manufacturers when a defective component caused the crash
Identifying all potentially liable parties requires understanding corporate structures, agency relationships, and the economic realities of the modern trucking industry. It requires knowledge of legal theories like respondeat superior, negligent selection, and apparent authority. Miss one of these parties, and you may leave significant compensation on the table.
The Stakes Are Much Higher
Truck accidents typically result in catastrophic injuries or death. When an 80,000-pound tractor-trailer collides with a 3,000-pound passenger vehicle, the laws of physics are unforgiving. The cases I handle routinely involve:
- Traumatic brain injuries requiring lifetime care
- Spinal cord injuries resulting in partial or total paralysis that require a lifetime of care
- Multiple orthopedic surgeries and permanent disability
- Wrongful death claims where families have lost their primary breadwinner
- Economic damages stretching into the millions of dollars
These cases require attorneys who understand how to properly value catastrophic injuries, work with life care planners and economists, and present complex damages evidence to a jury. The trucking companies and their insurers have teams of experienced defense attorneys. You need someone on your side who speaks their language.
The Insurance Is Different
Most car accident cases involve insurance policies with limits of $25,000 to $500,000. Commercial trucking policies typically start at $750,000 and often reach $5 million or more for interstate carriers. Some cases involve umbrella policies or excess policies that reach $100 million or higher.
But just because the insurance exists doesn’t mean the insurance company will offer it. And, in fact, in my experience, many trucking companies and their lawyers will go to great lengths to hide the amount of insurance coverage that is available.
The large amount of insurance money at issue makes trucking insurance carriers much more aggressive in their defense tactics. That is because the stakes are so high. The insurance companies will oftentimes spend hundreds of thousands of dollars defending a case rather than pay fair compensation to an injured victim.
You need an attorney who understands commercial insurance policies, knows how to identify all available coverage, and is not intimidated by insurance companies with deep pockets and their aggressive and experienced defense counsel.
Evidence Preservation Is Both Critical and Time-Sensitive
In truck accident cases, critical evidence can disappear quickly. You must act quickly to preserve important evidence:
- Electronic logging device (ELD) data may be overwritten after a certain period
- Truck “black box” data might only be preserved for days or weeks
- Driver logs and inspection reports can be “lost”
- Witness memories fade rapidly
- First responders remove physical evidence from the crash scene
- Nearby businesses deleted video footage
A specialized truck accident attorney knows exactly what evidence to preserve, how to send proper spoliation letters, how to find witnesses and their observations, and when to seek emergency court orders to prevent destruction of evidence. We’ve seen too many cases where critical evidence was lost because the attorney didn’t act quickly enough or didn’t know what to ask for.
Why So Few Attorneys Are Board Certified
Given how valuable and important this certification is, you might wonder why more attorneys have not pursued and obtained it. The answer is simple: it is difficult to obtain, it takes a lot of time, and it requires a genuine commitment to specialization.
Many personal injury attorneys handle truck accident cases occasionally. They might handle a few per year alongside their car accidents, slip-and-falls, and other general personal injury work. But that occasional work will not give them the depth of experience or specialized knowledge required for board certification.
Others practice in states where truck accidents are less common. Virginia, on the other hand, has the I-81 corridor, which is one of the busiest trucking routes on the East Coast. We see a disproportionately high number of serious truck accidents on this road and we have handled cases up and down Interstate 81. Handling these cases provided numerous opportunities for us to develop genuine expertise in this area.
But opportunity alone is not enough. Board certification requires a commitment to truly mastering this area of law. That requires studying federal regulations, staying current on developments in trucking safety and trucking law, investing in continuing education, and focusing your practice on this specialized field.
What This Means for Your Case
When you hire a board-certified truck accident attorney, you are getting someone who:
Speaks the language of trucking:
I understand the industry, the regulations, and the tactics trucking companies use to avoid responsibility. In addition, I know what questions to ask and what red flags to look for. I know what corporate practices make crashes more likely and what trucking companies can do to prevent these crashes in the first place.
Knows how to build a comprehensive case:
I do not just look at the driver who caused the crash. I investigate the entire chain of events that led up to your accident. This starts long before the trucking company hired the truck driver in the first place. I will also examine the other parties involved. That can include the freight broker who arranged the load, to the company that failed to properly maintain the vehicle, to the shipper who may have demanded unrealistic delivery schedules.
Has the resources and network:
Through my work in this specialized field, I’ve built relationships with the best accident reconstructionists, trucking industry experts, and medical professionals who can help prove your case. Truck accident attorneys across the county have recognized my experience, knowledge, and skill, as I have spoken to top trucking attorneys from across the country to share strategies and tips for handling these difficult cases.
I will not be intimidated:
Trucking companies and their insurers count on injured victims hiring attorneys who do not understand the industry and will settle for far less than the case is worth. They cannot use those tactics against an attorney who has dedicated his career to this field.
Can take your case to trial—and win:
While many cases settle, trucking companies need to know you have an attorney who can and will take the case to a jury if they will not offer fair compensation. We have handled cases through litigation and taken them to jury trials. And we have obtained many settlements and verdicts that exceed $1,000,000 in total value. Our aggressive approach to handling these cases ensures that we will fight to get the best possible result in each and every case. We have worked hard to build a reputation as attorneys who can and will successfully handle jury trials. This reputation gives us leverage in negotiations.
Why you should hire a board certified truck accident lawyer
Not all personal injury attorneys are created equal. When you are facing life-altering injuries from a truck accident, you need more than a general practitioner. You need a specialist who understands every aspect of these complex cases.
Board certification in truck accident law is not just a credential on the wall. It is a commitment to excellence, a demonstration of specialized knowledge, and a signal to trucking companies and their insurers that you have hired an attorney who knows exactly what they are doing.
If you or someone you love has been injured or killed in a truck accident in Virginia, you deserve an attorney who has dedicated their career to mastering this field. You deserve someone who will not miss critical evidence, will not overlook potential defendants, and will not accept an inadequate settlement.
You deserve Virginia’s only board-certified truck accident attorney.
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Contact Our Firm for Help With a Serious Truck Accident
If you’ve been injured in a truck accident and want to discuss your case with an attorney who is board certified in this area of law, contact our firm for a free consultation. We’ll review the facts of your case, explain your legal options, and help you understand what your case may be worth.
We work on a contingency fee basis, which means you pay nothing unless we recover compensation for you. Call us today for a free, no-obligation consultation.
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