You will save time and hassle doing it yourself!

You will save time and hassle doing it yourself!

Whether you hire an attorney or use a do-it-yourself approach, YOU will be required to devote some time to your claim in order to achieve a satisfactory settlement. If you hire an attorney, that attorney will give you certain tasks to perform so the attorney can be prepared to negotiate a settlement on your behalf. There is no way around this!

So a question becomes whether you will spend more or less time attempting to settle your claim yourself. Remember that you will have to devote a substantial amount of time educating the attorney and the attorney's staff about the facts related to your claim. Relying upon our experience and knowledge about the realities of how attorneys practice law, in average, small to medium injury claims, SCC members will surely able to achieve a full and satisfactory settlement and yet save a lot of time as compared to the babysitting you will have to do in order to move your claim through the attorney's office. The following table, based upon assumptions related to an average claim, illustrates this point.

You can do it
Activity	Time required to "do-it-yourself" (in hours)	Time required for attorney representation (in hours)
Read SCC site materials regarding "What To Do After An Accident"; Overview and Easy Settlements; Managing Your Medical Care; Witness Statements	1.15	0.00
Download and send First Letter to Adjuster	0.25	0.00
Research and find attorney-talk to friends and make some phone calls	0.00	1.00
First interview with attorney to go over your case and review and sign professional services agreement, meet legal assistant	0.00	2.20
Review *SettlementCentral.Com* professional service providers (PSP), and select one and make contact with this PSP for first half hour of your allotted time.	0.80	0.00
Prepare witness statements on liability and damages -one each. Review *SettlementCentral.Com* instructions. Call witnesses, prepare rough draft, review with witnesses and obtain signatures.	2.20	0.00
Phone call with attorney's staff regarding next meeting and what has to be done	0.00	0.25
Make notes for attorney's staff for requested items and facts that they will need.	0.00	0.60
Second meeting at Attorneys office with staff to go over personal history, medical background and fill out form for facts required by office.	0.00	1.50
Keep Personal Confidential Diary (on our form or on attorney's form)	2.30	2.30
Per *SettlementCentral.Com* Medical Care, phone call to nurse (office manager) and download and bring letter regarding your history and condition.	0.70	0.00
Visit Doctors or physical therapy as required in course of treatment.	12.00	12.00
Download and send second letter to Insurance Adjuster	0.30	0.00
Organize notes for presentation of claim, detailing history of accident ant course of treatment.	0.70	0.70
Research *SettlementCentral.Com* for Demand Letter formats; Download two formats. Select one and prepare Demand Letter	2.20	0.00
Attorney staff phone call to review treatment	0.00	0.40
Third visit to attorney's office to go over the facts and background for demand letter and review rough draft of it.	0.00	1.50
Phone call with insurance adjuster regarding demand letter	0.30	0.00
Phone call with attorney regarding settlement negotiation	0.00	0.30
Use of second half hour purchased to discuss with *SettlementCentral.Com* former insurance adjuster negotiation strategy and second salvo**letter	0.40	0.00
Preparation of second salvo letter to adjuster: go to *SettlementCentral.Com* and review second salvo letters. Download one and prepare	0.70	0.00
Phone call with adjuster in response to second salvo letter and settlement of claim	0.25	0.00
Obtain settlement check and review release, sign same and send to insurance adjuster	0.30	0.00
Deposit check from insurance company for pain and suffering for your share of proceeds. Preparation of subrogation reduction letter to your auto insurer or health insurer and prepare and send check with same. Go to *SettlementCentral.Com*. Read about subrogation and download form.	1.60	0.00
Go to attorney's office and review final accounting and disbursement and sign the same	0.00	0.40
Receive check from attorney's office for your proceeds	0.00	0.00
Transportation to and from attorney's office (figure 19 minutes each way-38 min. round trip x 4 round trips equals 2 hours 32 minutes)	0.00	2.70
Time spent waiting in attorney's office "waiting" room; 17minutes each visit; 4 visits equals 1 hour 8 minutes	0.00	1.00
Total of above	26.15	26.85

As you can see, you will likely devote more time to achieve a satisfactory resolution of your case if you hire an attorney rather than use the SettlementCentral.Com self-help approach. Remember, without your participation, an attorney or the attorney's staff can not magically produce the history of your accident or subsequent treatment. Will the attorney or the attorney's staff know all of the facts of your claim better than you? OF COURSE NOT! The reality of the practice of law is that you will have to communicate all of the information relevant to your claim to the attorney and the attorney's staff, you will have to fill out their office forms, and, in the event that a new attorney or staff member is assigned to your case, you may have to repeat that process all over again. Additionally, time will be expended driving to and from the attorney's office and waiting in his aptly named "waiting room".