According to a study by a Stanford law professor, the greatest risk to plaintiffs with a valid personal injury claim is the impact of "settlement" mills. In a March, 2010 issue of Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics, Nora Friedman Engstrom, a Stanford law professor, investigates the impact of settlement mills on plaintiffs' recoveries. Professor Engstrom concludes that these unscrupulous personal injury lawyers pose the greatest danger to plaintiffs with meritorious claims. Professor Engstrom describes settlement mills as those that advertise heavily, seldom if ever litigate cases and rely on paralegals to negotiate quick settlements with insurance adjusters without any real investigation of the claims. Some would call this "dump truck" lawyering. According to Professor Engstrom's study, the failure to investigate these cases means that valid claims are uncompensated while dubious claims go unrecognized. She also discovered that the contingency fees in such cases can run up to 40% with case managers' compensation tied to the size of the fees they generate and how quickly they settle claims. "In the world of settlement mill dispute resolution, the much-maligned adversarial all-or-nothing fault system yields to an almost cooperative scheme of near-universal (though sometimes partial) compensation." Thus, the conclusion should be for those looking for a lawyer, it is buyer beware when negotiating with an attorney.

The following things should be considered:

1) Did you see an attorney before you were asked to enter into an agreement for services? Most personal injury firms will utilize paralegals or nurse consultants as screeners to remove claims that are not valid before they present them to an attorney. However, before you sign a retention letter, you should meet with the attorney and obtain a full explanation of the litigation process.

2) Was the fee arrangement explained to you and reasonably based upon the work to be done? The rates for compensation for a personal injury claim vary between the type of claim. For example, most law firms charge 33 1/3% for personal injury cases involving automobile accidents, but 40% for settlements obtained in medical malpractice cases. Is the amount of compensation high or low when compared to the norm? For example, why if the norm in the community is 33 1/3%, why would an attorney agree to 25% or 20% of a personal injury claim for an automobile accident? It is possible that some firms do that to draw in a mass number of cases which are never seen by an attorney.

3) Does the attorney have a system in place to keep you informed of what is going on in your case? This can be done by either phone or written reports.

The simple fact is that the client should understand it is still their claim and if there is anything that interferes with their ability to make the decision on what to do in the case, then there is a question about whether they should be retaining other counsel.

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