How To Prepare For Your First Meeting With A Workers’ Compensation Lawyer

If you’ve been injured during work and have taken the first step in earning compensation by contacting a lawyer, you’re probably wondering what is going to happen at your initial consultation. The specifics of your meeting will depend on your exact circumstances, but no matter how you were injured, there are some things you can do to prepare for this first meeting. Below, we share some tips for being totally prepared for your first meeting with a workers’ compensation lawyer.

Meeting With Your Work Comp Lawyer

Here’s what you can do to be best prepared for your initial meeting with your workers’ compensation attorney.

Bring Your Documents – Bring all the documents related to your case to your initial meeting. Bring a copy of your injury report from work, bring any medical documentation, and bring anything you think might be helpful for your attorney to know.

Employment and Earnings Information – It’s also beneficial to bring employment records, pay stubs or bank records as they pertain to your employment. If you are going to miss some time at work, all your earnings information will allow your workers’ compensation lawyer to calculate your expected missed earnings and put together an accurate claim amount.

Contact Information – It’s also helpful for your lawyer to have the contact information of anyone they might need to talk to during the claims process. Give them your contact information, and the phone number of your work supervisor or human resources department, and the information of the health facility or doctor from which you received your treatment.

Bills – If you’ve already received a bill for any medical services, bring that along to your first meeting. You can also track other expenses related to your work injury, like mileage logged when traveling to medical appointments or money spent on assistive devices like crutches or braces.

Photos – Hopefully you or your coworkers were able to take some pictures of the injury site. Maybe there was water on ground and it contributed to your fall, or your safety harness had some faulty straps. Take pictures of the injury scene and anything that contributed to your injury, because this will help your case. Also, pictures of the injury itself can also be valuable.

Questions – Finally, the last thing you’ll want to bring to the initial consultation are some questions. If you’re unsure if you’ll be hiring the attorney, ask them about their experience handling similar cases, what you can expect from your case, and how they think it may play out. Once you have decided to hire the lawyer, ask them about the next steps and what you can expect of them in the coming days and weeks. Talk about how you’ll communicate throughout the claims process so you always remain on the same page.

For more information about preparing for your first meeting with a workers’ compensation lawyer, reach out to Dean Margolis today.