Why won't my lawyer tell me the value of my case?
There are two possibilities.
The first is that you are working with a lawyer who genuinely lacks the knowledge and experience to be able to give you an idea. Therefore, before hiring a lawyer, be aware that many attorneys out there—at least in my experience from earlier in my career—basically tell their clients, "Oh million dollars! Great case, plenty of money," you agree to work with them, but the attorney never contacts you again. Now that they've dug their hooks into your case and you've started communicating with them, all they can discuss with you when it comes time to settle the case is the issues since their only goal is to persuade you to accept the first offer that does come your way. It's sad, but in my office, we rarely resolve cases on the first offer.
It may frustrate you that you aren't getting a response from your lawyer because he or she isn't invested in your case and doesn't know who you are. But the other possibility is that you do have a good lawyer who is responsible and won't want to give you a number until they have all the information in your case. I believe that many attorneys are currently employing secretaries to handle their cases instead of managing them themselves. As a result, the lawyers aren't even involved or engaged in the cases.
Consequently, in my opinion, that is a risky approach to practicing law, and it most certainly does not increase the value of the client's communication and happiness, which I constantly attempt to achieve at my office. The way it works is that I instruct everyone to at least answer the phone, and if they are unable to answer a question, they escalate it to me. It depends on whether it's a worker's compensation case and what information a lawyer has to know before he can even tell you what the range of the worth of your case is. When a lawyer has all of this information, including a sound diagnosis and knowledge of your course of treatment, he or she should be able to give you a general idea of the value of your case. This information includes how much money you make on average each week, your medical records and bills, and your medical outcome.
Now, in other types of instances, such as a car collision, dog attack, bar brawl, nursing home abuse, or medical negligence, it depends on whether you have weight loss, but the details the injury lawyer requires to give you a number are quite similar to it. They need to know how much time you missed from work, how much you make per hour or per week to calculate your wage loss, a list of all your medical expenses, information on potential claimants after the case, and how much insurance the parties involved have. For example, in a car accident case, knowing the name of the insurance company usually allows me to predict whether it will be a state-minimum insurance policy or not.
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Consider What I Just Said For A Moment
Lawyers don't realize that at the beginning of the case they'll know that after you've finished seeing the doctor or after they've ordered a lot of medical records and bills and can evaluate them. Any lawyer whom upfront tells you "it's a million dollar case sales job" or they're attempting to get you to shut up and get off the phone is not a great strategy because eventually, those chickens are going to come home to roost. I believe it's not good, and once a client realizes you're just giving them a BS answer, they lose trust in you why should they when you no longer want to speak with them, examine their case, or respond to their questions? That, in my opinion, is not the basis for a strong working relationship with a client.
Anyhow, an honest lawyer won't offer you an exact sum of money at the start of the case. Likewise, if they do so without having any knowledge of the particulars of the case and after you've already started receiving treatment, they aren't being completely forthright. They might be able to provide some insight into the case's value range, but what can I say, that's just how it is. Nevertheless, I think I may have a solution for you. I have a tool on my website called the case cash calculator, and I also have another calculator called the do I have a good case calculator. Both of these calculators take 10 or 15 seconds, and they consist of a series of multiple-choice questions that you can answer directly on your device. If you have to think about the answers, they are all very simple, and they give you an idea of what your case might be worth as well as a range and a ballpark figure. Listen, I know some people don't like it when I ask for their name, email address, and if they want a callback, their phone number.
Well, listen, I'm going to tell you as an officer of the court I do not lie. Also, just as a person I do not lie, I like to collect people's information and then I email you and if there are any questions or even if you don't, or you don't pick up the phone, don't call us back, we don't call you 50 times or even call you three times. We probably contact you just once to check if you have any questions since, in my opinion, if someone freely gives us their phone number, it suggests they want us to get in touch with them.
Unbelievably, many of the individuals who contact me online are a bit reluctant to pick up the phone. As a result, I often call them and they say, "Oh I'm so pleased you called," and then we speak for a half hour. To be honest, most of them don't turn out to be cases for me, but I still get to answer questions, make new friends, and assist someone, so it's all good. The question at the end does need you to enter your name and email address to view your results, but they run Mills and sign up a million instances. If they don't like the case, they sign you up, and six months later, you get a drop letter. If the case is decent, they have a paralegal or a law clerk draft a demand letter, send it out, settle the case for whatever they can get, and then they call you and try to convince you to settle it whether you should or shouldn't. This is a business process.
I hope you and your family are doing well. Please feel free to contact me at 312-500-4500 at any time, day or night, if you have any concerns or require legal advice.
