Today I became familiar with a different part of the legal process, substitution of attorney. This part of the job is not the most pleasant but it does happen frequently. From time to time attorneys are faced with clients who become frustrated mid way through their cases and decide to take their cases to a different firm in hope of speeding up the process.
After a few months some clients become impatient and begin calling the firm on a daily basis to find out any updates on their case. But what i have learned is that these cases take many months and often years to settle. The clients begin to think that the attorney is ignoring their case but there are many steps in the process that delay settlement. I have seen many instances where the client must wait months for a response from his or her insurance company before scheduling an appointment with a doctor to evaluate the injury. Other examples that slow the process include finding doctors within a clients insurance company's Medical Provider Network. Sometimes doctors are located far from a client's residence and must be reissued or pushed back in order to schedule transportation. These examples have nothing to do with the attorney's effort in the case but from a client's perspective may appear to be a deficiency in the firm.
I was asked to complete Substitution on Attorney paperwork which would be filed to the Marina Del Rey Workers' Compensation Appeals Board. It was important that these documents be filed right away in order to serve the following attorney with the file and paperwork that had already been completed and collected. I also learned that regardless of the substitution the firm would still be included in the settlement and owed a percentage based on the amount of work completed on the case. This amount varies and is often negotiated once the case reaches settlement. There are instances where the two attorneys fail to agree on distribution of fees and must take the issue to court.
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