A friend of mine who I consider to be an outstanding Illinois workers’ compensation attorney told me about a case he turned down. The potential client was seriously injured to the point where he’d already had two surgeries before he even called a lawyer. Even if he makes a great recovery and returns to work, this lawyer estimated the low end of the case value would be worth over $100,000.00. In other words, he gave up a fee worth at least $20,000 by declining to help this worker.

So why did he do it? Simply put, the injured worker acted like an asshole. He screamed at the receptionist when she said the lawyer was on the other line and asked if he could call back within 15 minutes. He used a ton of swear words. We aren’t prudes, but apparently the way he was using them was so aggressive that it was a huge turnoff. As in, “I want you to f my employer in the ass over how they are treating me.” There was more, but there were so many red flags on his behavior that he felt like a client who would be more trouble than it’s worth. Certainly disrespecting the staff is something you should never do.

So this worker missed out on a great work comp attorney. How do you get one if you get hurt? There are a few things that come to mind:

  • Be honest. We aren’t looking for a perfect story from you or a perfect case. But if we catch you lying about what happened or your injury, it not only makes you look bad, but makes us look bad. Just tell the truth and let us sort it out.
  • Be kind. This includes treating the staff well. You don’t have to be best friends, but you should treat people how you want to be treated.
  • Don’t be racist, sexist, etc. If we hear this type of stuff, it ends our involvement.
  • Recognize we want you to succeed on your case. We only get paid if you win and the more we get for you, the more we get. So we have selfish reasons for wanting you to do well.
  • Listen to advice. Sometimes people come in with notions that are so far from reality. In other words, they’ll tell us they want a million dollars for their back strain or to sue for pain and suffering. Neither thing is possible under Illinois workers’ comp law. We don’t care if you want to know about the law, but if we explain to you what the law is, work with us please.
  • Ask thoughtful questions. If you want to know why you can’t get pain and suffering I’ll tell you. That will include explaining how you can still get compensated, but it will be called something else. If you want to know why your neighbor’s case went differently, we’ll tell you. You asking these questions allows you to vet whether we or anyone else seems worth working together on your case. If you don’t ask questions about things that concern you, you have no way of telling if you are making a good hire.

There is no such thing as “the best” Illinois workers comp attorney. There are a lot of great ones, a lot of bad ones, and a lot of meh ones. We have a state wide network of great attorneys who have great reviews, experience and success. If you’d like our helping in finding the right one for you, please contact us any time.