I’ve been blogging about Illinois workers’ compensation law for about 15 years. Somehow I keep on hearing new things that are worth publishing. I would have thought that I’d have run out of things to talk about years ago. Fortunately or unfortunately there are a lot of people doing things that I just can’t believe are happening.

Take for example this one Chicago work comp lawyer who is in his 80’s. He signed up a client who had a significant leg injury. It’s been over two months and nothing has happened on the case. If it’s denied she doesn’t know why as the lawyer hasn’t given her any answers.

She hired him because he’s “experienced” but the reality is that he’s too experienced. He told her that, “I’m the one you’ll talk to throughout your case. And I’ll handle every aspect of your case. The exception is that if we have to go to court, I don’t do that anymore. So if that happens I will have one of my associates handle that.”

So this attorney handles “every aspect of your case” except the biggest part of it that decides whether or not you win or lose. That is insane!!!

Beyond that, this attorney is in their 80’s. So to succeed, you have to hope that all of the information you share with him about your case gets properly relayed to someone. That person will then have to go to court and know your case well enough to take it to trial.

Now many firms have internal systems where every time you talk to a client, the information you share is documented. That way if someone has to step in, they will know about your case or can properly prepare. Call me skeptical, but I highly doubt a lawyer in their 80’s, who built a career the old fashioned way, is documenting all of your calls with them on a computer system.

This means a new lawyer is going to court without all of the info you want them to have. Your day to day attorney has to be your person.That doesn’t mean that someone can’t help out, especially if it’s a routine court appearance or a straight forward medical deposition. But if your case is going to trial, the lawyer really needs to know your case and you personally.

It’s all about what gives you the best chance of getting a good result in the end. In my opinion, it’s not some attorney who has 200 cases of their own having your case assigned to them last minute and figuring out the strengths and weaknesses of your case based on internal memos.

I shudder to think what the pre-trial prep with you would look like. And how much time would you have to spend educating them or repeating things you’ve already told your main lawyer.

I’ve seen this scenario play out so poorly at the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission over the years. Attorneys who are covering for someone else are shuffling through papers and looking for medical records that explain what’s happening. You can imagine how much an Arbitrator loves it when an attorney can’t answer a basic question about a case.

The way to protect yourself in this scenario is to ask the attorney at the beginning of the case the following. “Who will be responsible for handling my case? Will that attorney try the case if it goes to trial? What happens if they become unavailable?” If the firm can’t answer those questions, they aren’t right for you.

Remember, this doesn’t mean your lawyer should never take a vacation. This 80+ year old lawyer apparently spends three months in Florida every winter. That’s not a vacation. But if an attorney is out of town for a week’s worth of R&R, it’s not a big deal as long as they aren’t scheduling major events on your case while their gone. And the truth is that no good lawyer would ever schedule a trial for a time that they can’t be there.