There’s one firm in Chicago who handles workers’ compensation claims head and shoulders worse than everyone else. I say this because at least once a week I get a call about them from existing clients. It’s almost always the same story: “My lawyer keeps switching”; “They never call me back”; “They promised me my case was worth $100,000 when I signed up and now they want me to settle for $15,000”.
They are consistent in their terrible customer service so I give them credit (haha) for that. I don’t get it as they could make so much money with any effort. Instead they lose clients every week because they are constantly getting fired.
I’m bringing them up because they (allegedly) did something terrible that I have never heard of happening in my 20 years in practice. According to a former client, a young attorney was assigned to his case and got him a settlement, assuring him that it was more money than the case was worth. Sounds good, right?
The problem was that according to the caller, this young lawyer confused what part of the body was injured and got him a settlement for a finger when the actual injury and surgery was to the wrist. As a result the “great settlement” ended up being for way less than the case should be worth. The client didn’t notice the problem until it was too late.
He might have a legal malpractice lawsuit on his hands. He wanted me to open up the case which unfortunately we can’t do. Once it’s settled, that’s it.
Sadly he told me that he wanted to fire these guys a year ago when he got his third attorney from the same firm. The others either quit or were fired. He didn’t know that firing your Illinois workers’ compensation law firm is very easy if there has been no settlement offer.
For your sake just beware of any firm which makes promises which sound too good to be true, don’t return phone calls or have high office turnover. It’s a bad sign and in the end you could get caught up in their inability to properly run a business.
