A potential client contacted me about getting a new Illinois workers compensation attorney. Her lawyer hadn’t returned a phone call in two weeks and generally speaking didn’t make the worker feel like they cared about them. This is a story we sadly hear all of the time.
She wanted to know what went in to switching lawyers and if it was hard. When I explained it to her she said something that made me laugh and smile. She said:
So it’s no work to switch lawyers?
I love it when people I talk to get what I’m saying, but also can say it in an even simpler way than I can. It truly is no work to switch lawyers in an Illinois workers comp case. And while we encourage you to try and work things out with your attorney if you can, the sooner you do switch once you realize they suck, the better your case will likely go.
So what work does need to be done?
The answer is that you’d sign documents with your new lawyer and they’d send a motion to substitute attorneys to your old firm. That’s it. It’s really simple.
And it doesn’t cost you anything to do this. You don’t have to give your old lawyer any money. You won’t end up with less money in the end. The total attorney fee can not exceed 20%. Switching lawyers doesn’t change that. It’s up to the old firm and new firm to work out how to divide that 20%, but it won’t change your bottom line in any way.
Sadly, many law firms that do a bad job and lose clients all of the time try to make workers feel like they are stuck with that crappy firm. That’s simply not the case no matter what they tell you or what documents they had you sign.
It truly is no work to switch lawyers in Illinois work comp cases. And if you want to discuss doing that, we are happy to talk to you about it for free and in confidence any time. We have a state wide network of great attorneys so we cover all of Illinois. Call us any time at 888-705-1766.
