Workers’ compensation law is odd. It’s not like any other area of law because it has so many unique features compared to other practice categories. These aren’t lawsuits. We use Arbitrators not Judges. The burden of proof is unique. The law is constantly changing.
Not only that, unlike divorce, traffic or car accidents, the law in one state is likely much different than in other states. In other words, just because you know work comp law in Florida or Pennsylvania, that has almost no relevance to handling a case in Illinois.
For years we’ve received calls from Illinois attorneys who dabble in work comp and had questions on how to handle a case. They are allowed to handle Illinois work comp cases because they are licensed here. It’s not a good idea to hire an attorney who only dabbles in work comp because if something goes wrong on your case and it needs to go to trial, a less experienced attorney means you are more likely to get a bad result.
Recently though we’ve been getting calls from out of state attorneys looking for advice on how to handle a work comp case in Illinois. That is shocking to me. I’d never try to handle a case in another state. There’s one great reason for this. It’s not in the best interests of the client. That should be the guiding principle in what every lawyer does.
While I will give advice to Illinois attorneys who reach out, I have made it very clear to these out of state attorneys that what they are doing is gross and I will not help them. If they want to help the client, they should simply refer the case to an Illinois lawyer. Even a meh firm would be a better choice.
The first attorney that contacted me was from a big Florida firm that also handles many other areas of law there too. He told me that they are starting to make inroads in Illinois and was hoping that “attorney to attorney” I could look out for them and give them some answers to questions they had about the Illinois IME process. Hard pass.
Their questions were so basic to anyone that has been handling Illinois work comp law for a while that I can’t imagine what they’d do if a challenging situation came up. Or what they don’t know that is harming their clients. In fact, I know many injured workers who know more about Illinois law than this attorney does.
Many of the billboards you will see in the Chicago area and sprinkled throughout the State are actually out of state law firms who are just marketing themselves here. Those are mostly for PI cases, but as the calls I’ve received have shown, they aren’t limiting themselves to just car accidents any more. I don’t care if you hire a lawyer through us or some other resource that you find to be a better fit. But I promise you, getting an out of state attorney on an Illinois work comp case is a terrible idea.