Illinois workers’ compensation attorneys do not see each other much anymore because most hearings and court appearances are on Webex which is comparable to Zoom. As a result, you do not get the small interactions very often that help foster relationships which can make cases operate more smoothly.
I have vivid, not necessarily fond, memories of going to the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission at the Thompson Center before Covid when hearings took place there. You would see gross things like older, married male attorneys hitting on young female lawyers. You would get a sense about how various firms practiced. One firm in particular would make almost all of their clients show up even though they knew the cases were not actually going to trial that today.
You would also see some great attorneys in action and see some acting like total assholes.
It has been a decade or more since I have seen in person one particular Chicago work comp lawyer who had a major anger problem. It was never directed at me, but I saw him act out toward defense attorneys and his own clients.
Well he appears to still be at it because one of his clients, who has a great case worth a lot of money, called me crying. She had a question about her case and said when she called her attorney he screamed at her, called her stupid and made her scared. She told me that she felt like a kid who had been sent to the principal’s office.
There is absolutely no excuse for a lawyer to treat a client that way, ever. You can not say you are having a bad day. That does not mean an attorney should be perfect or can’t get argumentative. That can happen and sometimes it is appropriate.
But to call your client stupid and make them afraid to call you is just gross. She told me that whenever she calls she gets ridiculed and this was not a one off event.
So sadly nothing has changed for this lawyer and given that he’s been doing this for over 30 years, it sadly means he will probably escape accountability.
Your work comp attorney does not need to be your best friend or even your friend at all, but it would be nice if they are patient and compassionate with you. If they have a problem with anything you do, they should be able to say it calmly. For example, if a client is calling 10 times in a day and yelling at staff, the attorney should call that out.
But if you are calling occasionally when you have questions and you are courteous, they should try to help you.
What makes this case worse in my opinion is that when benefits got cut off, he made no attempt to solve the situation and did not provide any real legal advice from what she shared.
The good news for this person and anyone else is that you can switch firms and it will cost nothing to do so. The only hindrance to that would be if there was a settlement offer. Often at that point you are stuck unless the offer was woefully low.
On the same day this worker called me, another injured worker who hired a different terrible firm reached out as well. He too had been screamed at by his lawyer, but his case went to trial and they lost so there was no way to help him unfortunately.
Again, the lesson is you do not have to take it and if you are thinking about switching, do it before it is too late.
