What Should I Expect When I Call A Lawyer?
The topic of today's video is: "I know I should call a lawyer, I'm not used to dealing with lawyers, what should I expect?
I talked to a really nice guy yesterday. I actually talked to two people in a row who were in the same boat. Both of them had pretty serious injuries, both of them were work injuries, and one of them also involved a motor vehicle crash. They were good employees, never had a workers comp.
One guy worked for 20 years for the same company, the other guy worked for slightly less. They got along real well and he was happy at his company so he didn't want to switch companies. And he thought it was a foregone conclusion that if he filed a workers comp case, they'd fire him.
It is against state law, in virtually every state of the United States to fire an employee merely for asking for their benefits under workers comp. The first thing you need to know is, they can't fire you in retaliation for filing a workers comp, but can they harass you. Well that's a tougher question, right? A lot of small companies, you'll feel a weird energy. Like they'll be salty, they'll wonder "is this guy trying to squeeze us for a million bucks?"
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Workers Comp Is Mandatory
But here's what you have to understand and this is what they should understand too. Workers comp insurance is mandatory. Every state, depending on the employer type and size. Each state has a law that says you're supposed to have workers comp insurance no matter what. And at the end of the day, they're paying a premium every month. The thing that drives me nuts is when like these two guys who called me. They are good employees, long-term employees, and didn't want to consult with a lawyer but they did.
Now they feel like things are going sideways. They're feeling like their bosses that were their friends are now suddenly not talking to them or being suspicious and all this stuff. It's really unfortunate anytime anybody gets hurt, whether it's a car crash, medical malpractice, work injury, or any kind of injury. And then somebody makes a claim, they feel like they're going to get judged by other people.
You Only Get One Body In Life
But this is what I tell people. You get one body in life. You may or may not have multiple opportunities to sue people, you may or may not take advantage of those opportunities, you may have a bunch of children, you may have no children, you may be married once, you may be married five times, you may be married never in this crazy life. You may have a dozen jobs or you may have had one job or you may never have worked outside the home.
But the one thing that's true is, you get one body. That's why I tell people if you've been injured and you're concerned about it and you're starting to sense that an insurance company or a lawyer or employer or a workers comp insurance company is getting cagey or suspicious, it's time to pick up the phone and call the lawyer.
No Charge For Talking a Lawyer
So what should you expect from a lawyer? Well, what you need to know first is, there is no charge for talking to a lawyer virtually. Every injury lawyer gives a free consultation. I give a free consultation. There should be no charge.
Attorney-Client Privilege
Second, everything you talk to the lawyer about is protected by attorney-client privilege. The lawyer can't call your boss, call anybody, tell anybody anything unless you approve it.
Hire THE Lawyer That You Want To Hire
Third, you only hire the lawyer if you want to hire the lawyer. There's no obligation to hire the lawyer when you talk to him on the telephone and the lawyer is usually going to ask you questions and listen a lot. Then after they've listened, they'll ask you questions and they're going to be able to give you some good answers to questions like "do I have a good case?", "what might my case be worth?" , "am I going to get in trouble at work?" , "how long will the case take?" , "what do I have to do?" , "what do you do right now?".
It should be virtually. All consultations are over the telephone, but a lot of lawyers still offer them in person. I do, but I have to be honest with you 99 over 99 of my consultations are over the phone. Just because it's more convenient for people and it's more convenient for me and I'm able to answer all the questions.
A Lawyer Who Actually Talks To You
But the one thing I will tell you is, that you should expect is a lawyer who actually talks to you, actually listens to you, asks you intelligent questions, and gives you some insight into your case. If your lawyer can't Identify some problems with the case for you, or can't tell you the good parts or the bad parts of your case, maybe that's not the lawyer for you. If all the lawyer wants to do is bark questions at you and sign you up and then if they don't want your case they want to get off the phone immediately. That's not good.
There's a new thing going around where you call in and you never even get to talk to a lawyer. I get so many people call me who are dissatisfied with their lawyer. It's considered bad manners to take cases off other lawyers. Even though there are a few law firms in my area who are notorious for taking cases and not even trying to analyze. Whether it's just they didn't get a call back or they're frustrated or they're doing it at a bad time for them.
Problem With Previous Lawyer
Whenever anybody calls me and tells me they want to fire their lawyer, I usually try to talk them into patching things up or ask them if it's okay if I call their lawyer to see what the problem is and see. If I can't repair the relationship, if a lawyer doesn't respond to me or the client keeps calling me with the same problem and the other lawyer, their current or former lawyer seems like they're not even trying to fix the relationship, then I'll consider taking the case. I don't like doing it, but on the other hand you can't just have a law clerk be the only climb contact, lawyers need to do better than that.
If the lawyer you talk to is not respectful, doesn't ask intelligent questions, doesn't listen, doesn't give you answers, doesn't answer your questions, then you're probably not talking to the right Law Firm.
