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Worker's Compensation Attorneys

Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2015 8:53 am
by Anonymous User
Hello.

I would like to know what typically goes into the day of workers compensation attorney. Are you basically collecting from Insurance Companies all day? What are your hours like? Is this an area of law in which solo practitioners can make a good living? Is there any activity in the field correlating with the uptick of undocumented workers that are employed in states that give them the same workers comp benefits as documented workers?

Re: Worker's Compensation Attorneys

Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2015 12:16 pm
by Anonymous User
I work in a WC firm as a clerk part time while in school. So my experience is limited to that, but being a small firm, I have pretty good insight on what the job entails. Also work in a successful and VERY busy firm in a major US city.

Hours: Not bad at all. 8-6, some longer days to prep for a trial/hearing, but nothing crazy. Everyone is out of the office by 5 on Fridays.

Nature of the Work: Typical day includes dealing with clients (typically low-income, non-english speaking, blue collar, manual labor type positions - think of jobs where its easy to get hurt.) Client interaction can be difficult. Then the rest of the day is spent going to the workers comp board, presenting cases, and negotiating bills with insurance companies.

Solo: I think it would be a tough field to go into blind/solo. The work is HEAVILY volume driven. You aren't making much money on each case, and they take a lot of time to get to settlement (6-12months). The cases are also heavily paper driven - collecting medical records, collecting bills, etc. It would be difficult to do this without a decent support staff/infrastructure. In addition to that, you at minimum need someone who is fluent in spanish (or whatever regional second language is prevalent.) Between client intake, collecting records, dealing with clients, creating advertisements, etc etc... you would probably need some support.

Hopefully this is helpful...

Oh - Undocumented workers - many are still able to make work comp claims, these cases are often settled quickly.

Re: Worker's Compensation Attorneys

Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2015 8:50 am
by Anonymous User
Anonymous User wrote:I work in a WC firm as a clerk part time while in school. So my experience is limited to that, but being a small firm, I have pretty good insight on what the job entails. Also work in a successful and VERY busy firm in a major US city.

Hours: Not bad at all. 8-6, some longer days to prep for a trial/hearing, but nothing crazy. Everyone is out of the office by 5 on Fridays.

Nature of the Work: Typical day includes dealing with clients (typically low-income, non-english speaking, blue collar, manual labor type positions - think of jobs where its easy to get hurt.) Client interaction can be difficult. Then the rest of the day is spent going to the workers comp board, presenting cases, and negotiating bills with insurance companies.

Solo: I think it would be a tough field to go into blind/solo. The work is HEAVILY volume driven. You aren't making much money on each case, and they take a lot of time to get to settlement (6-12months). The cases are also heavily paper driven - collecting medical records, collecting bills, etc. It would be difficult to do this without a decent support staff/infrastructure. In addition to that, you at minimum need someone who is fluent in spanish (or whatever regional second language is prevalent.) Between client intake, collecting records, dealing with clients, creating advertisements, etc etc... you would probably need some support.

Hopefully this is helpful...

Oh - Undocumented workers - many are still able to make work comp claims, these cases are often settled quickly.
Thanks for the response. I am fluent in Spanish and live in an area where many undocumented immigrants are in jobs like Construction, Landscaping, etc. I look at this as an opportunity because I can use my skills to connect with these workers and from what I understand, insurance companies are fairly quick to settle. In your limited experience, what would you say the pay is like for an associate in your firm? Thanks again for the insight.

Re: Worker's Compensation Attorneys

Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2015 10:33 am
by Anonymous User
Not great. Probably 80k for newer/less skilled guys. 150k+ for the better/more experienced people. Then a lot for th head of the firm. They also get bonuses on winning cases/settlements.
Anonymous User wrote:I can use my skills to connect with these workers
- don't count on this... Unfortunately, a lot of people w/ WC injures are looking for a pay day - but the way the system works, they aren't going to "get rich" from a WC case. And unless you create a successful firm, neither are you. Way too many competing firms. If you want in, better be ready for fork over TONS of advertising money or get connected with a Union for referral business.

Also, if you start up today, it is close to impossible that you will see a penny for at least six months - if the cases you are handling go well. Volume is key in WC.

Re: Worker's Compensation Attorneys

Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2015 3:35 pm
by Anonymous User
Anonymous User wrote:Not great. Probably 80k for newer/less skilled guys. 150k+ for the better/more experienced people. Then a lot for th head of the firm. They also get bonuses on winning cases/settlements.
Anonymous User wrote:I can use my skills to connect with these workers
- don't count on this... Unfortunately, a lot of people w/ WC injures are looking for a pay day - but the way the system works, they aren't going to "get rich" from a WC case. And unless you create a successful firm, neither are you. Way too many competing firms. If you want in, better be ready for fork over TONS of advertising money or get connected with a Union for referral business.

Also, if you start up today, it is close to impossible that you will see a penny for at least six months - if the cases you are handling go well. Volume is key in WC.
I see. It's certainly a lot to think about. I thought that because of my ability to read, write and speak Spanish I had a chance to fall into a nice little niche fighting for workers comp benefits for the underserved immigrant community because many of them are working in physically taxing jobs.