Working WITH Your Attorney For Best Results

For the most part I’m an extremely lucky guy (for being an attorney, anyway). The vast majority of my clients get it. They know that this is a two-party relationship where each of us – attorney and client – have individual roles to play that, when combined, are greater than the sum of their parts. When attorney and client worth TOGETHER on a claim, the best results for the client are far more likely to be obtained. Conversely, when the client doesn’t participate, bad things happen in the claim.

Once again, I’m luck enough that most of my clients do not fail to participate. Most of my clients are actively involved in the development and management of their claims, which is great for both of us. The claim is made healthier by client involvement, which typically results in better settlements, which results in happier clients and a happier attorney, frankly. Everyone wins in that scenario!

The opposite is true when clients fail to participate. What do I mean by failing to participate? Here are some examples:

• I need to know how your treatment is going. I’ll typically reach out by email to each client every 2-4 weeks, depending on circumstances, to obtain updates as to treatment. If you don’t let me know what’s happening (or not happening, as the case my be) I can’t help you manage that situation to better your outcome. You gotta communicate!
• I need you to complete the tasks I set you. Some folks think that when they hire an attorney for their injury claim, the attorney does ALL of the work. The truth is the attorney does A LOT of the work, but there are some things that the attorney CANNOT do for the client. I can’t write your pain journal. I can’t make you attend your treatment regularly. I can’t make sure your health insurance is being billed. I can’t talk to your health insurance for you about potential subrogation issues. I can’t provide documentation about your own auto insurance coverage to myself. I can’t make sure that you’re adequately describing all of your symptoms to your providers and making sure you’re going to the right ones. I can’t guess if you want to make a diminished value claim, nor can I make your appraisal appointment for you. I can’t send myself bills that you are getting in the mail. There’s simply a lot of stuff that I cannot do for you because, in short, I ain’t you.
• I need you to respond to questions, particularly about settlement. This one is less of a problem because if we’ve gotten to the point of settling the claim then that’s normally because the client has been reasonably responsive so far (or else we wouldn’t have likely gotten there, though there are exceptions). But sometimes you’ll run into clients that simply lose interest (or maybe just have some other stuff going on) and as a result they don’t respond to questions about settlement authority. I can’t settle your case without your consent. Another way to say this is unless you tell me it’s OK, I can’t get you the money you hired me to get you. So it’s in your interests to talk to me.

What it really boils down to is this: It takes two to tango. In the immortal words of Jerry McGuire, “Help me to help you!” As much as I can do for you (and I can do a lot!) I can’t handle your case without your help. It really is about communication. If you just respond to questions and assignments this entire process will be better and easier for everyone involved. Don’t ghost me, or your claim will be the thing that really suffers.