Special Series on Upgrading Selection of Workers Compensation Defense Counsel

This week, we have a special series on how to tame workers compensation costs by upgrading the caliber of legal counsel that you use on contested cases. Our featured blogger is Kevin Quinley a leading authority on claims management, product liability and litigation management.

Tremendous expenses are involved, both in terms of legal fees incurred and the indemnity payouts from unsuccessful claim defenses. By contrast, wise choices here stem “leakage” in paying groundless workers’ compensation claims. Here is the first of seven tips for upgrading your defense counsel.

Tip #1

Check for Experience in Workers Compensation Defense
Classic rock fans may recall a Jimi Hendrix album from the sixties, “Are You Experienced?” Forty years later, risk professional can pose the same question – minus the psychedelics – to candidate workers compensation defense counsel. An attorney who superbly litigates car crashes or slip-and-fall defense is not necessarily an adept workers compensation lawyer. Seek someone whose caseload is predominantly, if not exclusively workers compensation defense. The best questions will yield the optimum answers that can help you assess the fit between your needs and the firm’s capabilities.

Some good warm-up questions are:

What percentage of their caseload is workers compensation defense?
Do they handle plaintiff cases? (Carriers have differing philosophies about attorneys working “both sides of the fence.” Some want attorneys to be “ideologically pure,” with no plaintiff work. Others feel it helps the effectiveness of their defense counsel to have experience on the plaintiff side.)
What is their hourly billing rate for workers compensation cases?
Would you consider any billing approaches other than time-and-expense?

There is one more key question which we will spotlight in our next post. In the meantime, any lawyer specializing in workers compensation defense should be able to answer questions like these in their sleep. If you hear hesitation, hemming or hawing, that is a bad sign. Workers compensation clients must get beyond the glossy marketing brochures and websites to really drill down to plumb the depth of a firm’s or attorney’s workers compensation expertise.

Provided by: Kevin Quinley CPCU, AIC, ARM is a claims consultant, trainer, speaker and expert witness. He is the author of ten books on various aspects of claims management. He is a contributing author to the IIA textbook for the Associate in Claims courses, Principles of Workers Compensation Claims (Second Edition) 1998. You can reach Kevin at kquinley@cox.net, by phoning (703) 239-1694 or via his website, www.kevinquinley.com

Try the WC Cost Calculator to show the REAL COST of work comp.
Look at WC 101 for the basics about workers comp.

Workers’ Comp Kit^® is a web-based online Assessment, Benchmarking and Cost Containment system for employers. It provides all the materials needed to reduce your costs significantly in 85% less time than if you designed a program from scratch.

Do not use this information without independent verification. All state laws are different. Consult with your corporate legal counsel before implementing any cost containment programs.