Why Lawyers in Brain Injury Cases Get Fired
How Not to Make the Mistake that Gets you Fired in a Brain Injury Case
By Gordon S. Johnson, Jr.
I have been doing brain injury cases almost exclusively for 20 years. Handling a brain injury case requires expertise beyond what even the best personal injury lawyers are likely to have. The best advice is don’t jump into a brain injury case, because you think it will be easy. It won’t be. But if you do handle a brain injury case, we believe it will help you to hear the things you must be careful not to do, or you may get fired, for cause.
- You are in too big of a rush to get the check to understand the full extent of your client’s brain injury case.
- You have too many cases in your office.
- You don’t understand brain injury and brain injury survivors.
- No one in your office seems to care.
- You don’t accept the fact that a brain injury case will require substantially more time than a typical rear end case.
- You don’t make all efforts to find a deep pocket.
- You aren’t prepared to invest $50,000 to $100,000 to prove the full extent of the disability.
- You believe that a normal report on a CT Scan on date of injury eliminates all question of permanent brain damage.
- You believe the ER report.
- You believe a neuropsychologist when they say that labeling your client with a brain injury will be harmful to them.
- You don’t demand an MRI be done by someone who is doing research in the field of brain injury. Click here for the Need for a Forensic MRI.
- You think because your client has a job after the brain injury, there is no loss of earning capacity. Click here for Loss of Earning Capacity in a Brain Injury Case.
- You value the case based on some ratio to the amount of the medical bills.
- You think neurologists are brain injury experts. Click here for the Problem with Neurologists after Brain Injury.
- You take at face value what the survivor says about his or her problems without talking to family members.
- You think brain injury is strictly a cognitive problem and don’t consider the behavioral, mood and physical deficits that make up the most significant problems in a brain injury case. Click here for the understanding the full spectrum of brain injury deficits.
- You don’t get the 911 tapes as soon as you are retained.
- You have no end game as to how to continue to negotiate after mediation fails.
- You don’t retain the right experts.
- You don’t keep in touch with your client.
- You haven’t been to your client’s home.
- You don’t return your clients’ phone calls or respond to their emails.
- You don’t understand your client’s all consuming passion for his or her case.
- You were hired when the client did not understand the nature of the contract for your services.
- You didn’t get a guardian appointed when your client was in a coma or unable to contract.
- You have given up on the case and not told the client.
- You think defense experts understand brain injury better than your clients.
- You don’t believe your client when they tell you that they are different.
Gordon Johnson
Attorney Gordon Johnson is one of the nations leading brain injury advocates. He is Past-Chair of the TBILG, a national group of more than 150 brain injury advocates. He has spoken at numerous brain injury seminars and is the author of some of the most read brain injury web pages on the internet.
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