Hesitant to Hire a Personal Injury Attorney? Don’t be.
Perhaps you’ve heard horror stories of dealing with attorneys (no call backs, they get paid more than you do, etc.). Perhaps you’re worried about the claim taking longer than it would otherwise if you hire an attorney. Perhaps you think hiring an attorney is an unnecessary escalation that is going to create a worse outcome. Whatever the reason, lots of people have given me lots of reasons why they were hesitant to hire an attorney. For the most part, they were unfounded (though very understandable). They simply just didn’t know the truth. Here’s as much truth as I’m legally allowed to put in one blog post:
Some attorneys do suck. I’m not naming names, but some attorneys (or their offices, really, to be more precise) have a bad reputation for not being very communicative, not calling clients back, not keeping clients in the loop, etc. It’s a thing, for sure. The trick is NOT hiring one of those. But how are you supposed to know? First, ask your friends and family for referrals. If someone says they had a good experience with an attorney, ask them what was good about it and go from there. That might assuage your fears. Second, for the most part, you can trust Google Reviews. Those are not easy to fake, so for the most part those are actual clients sharing actual experiences, so you can probably go by what they say. Third, call around and see what you get. Who is answering the phone? Is there some Byzantine system for actually talking to an attorney, or do you get to talk to an attorney (not a case manager, not a secretary, but THE attorney) immediately? This will tell you a lot about what to expect.
Yes, sometimes claims take longer than you think. But maybe that’s more about your expectations being wrong and less about the performance of your attorney (though that can be a factor, of course). The first thing you should know about how long your claim should take to resolve is that there is normally no reason that settlement discussions should happen until AFTER you’re done with your care. So the length of your recovery is the biggest factor in how long your claim will take to resolve. It’s not the only one, but it’s massively important. Your reaching maximum medical improvement is the indicator for an attorney to start trying to gather all relevant material to value your claim, so until you reach that, you’re just going to have to be patient. Moreover, JUST because you hire an attorney doesn’t mean your claim will take longer. Think about it: What do I have to do with how long your treatment takes? And if that’s the biggest factor, how am I prolonging things? Now, don’t get me wrong; handling insurance claims does fall under the old maxim, “Do you want it done quickly or do you want it done right?” Sometimes for me to do a thorough job I need time to do my job, but that normally doesn’t add a significant amount of time to the claims process.
Hiring an attorney is not an unnecessary escalation and will not/should not result in some negative consequence in and of itself. Think about it: If you’re an adjuster, would you rather work with a personal injury attorney who knows exactly what you need to give him the best value on a case or some first-timer who is injured, stressed out, and totally clueless? Trust me, adjusters don’t take it personally when you hire an attorney, and they may even thank you (silently, of course). But more importantly, who cares? Are you worried about pissing off your toilet by hiring a plumber to fix it? That’s just dumb. If you have a problem that requires a professional, hire a professional to deal with it.
I get it. It’s a big deal and you want to make sure you’re making the right decision. The thing is you just don’t know until you try, but to me, the logic is on the side of trying as opposed to winging it on your own. Call me if you want to talk about it. 919-929-2992.
Trackback from your site.