What Happens When Your Attorney is Disabarred

Sunday, August 17, 2003 | 0

What if you just found out the State Bar Association had suspended your attorney's license? Worse yet, what if you took your file to another attorney (or a number of other attorneys) and were told that they would not represent you because the file was so poorly handled? What do you do?

After your initial panic has subsided, you need to take a step back and prepare to represent yourself. Things are not as bad as they may seem.

The first order of business is to ensure that all of the parties, and the board or court, know that you are the attorney of record now. A person who represents himself is known in legal vernacular as 'in propria persona', or 'in pro per'. Notice must be given to everyone in the case as to your representation status, along with the address and telephone number where you will be receiving all official notifications and communications. This step is extremely important to your case. Any failure of a party to communicate with you as a result of a lack of notice on your part may result in a delay in your case (and you've had enough delay already with your recalcitrant attorney!). Often the official notice that needs to be distributed to the parties, and to the Workers' Compensation Court (or Board as it is often referred to in many jurisdictions), is either a Substitution of Attorney (assuming you can get your former attorney's cooperation ... but remember, he's the one that messed up your case to begin with by failing to adequately represent your interests), or a Notice of Dismissal of Attorney, or a similar form.

This is also the time to become familiar with the Proof of Service. Most states require that official documents filed with the Board or Court be accompanied with a Proof of Service. This is a document by which you declare under penalty of perjury that you placed the accompanying legal document in the mail on a certain date and place. The original Proof of Service goes to the court with your filing papers, and a copy goes to each of the parties with the document that you served on them. You will need to get a copy of the Official Address List. The clerk at the local Workers' Compensation Board should be able to assist you with a copy of the list.

The next most important thing you will need to do is to get your file. Your former attorney may not be cooperative although he is legally obligated to turn over the file to you once his services have been terminated (remember, he was also under a legal obligation to represent your interests too...). All is not lost. The most important documents you will need are the medial reports and records, and any official legal documents, such as opinions or hearing notices from the Board. The defendant/insurance company should be able to assist you in recreating your file. If that fails, the Board will copy all that is in their file for you, typically at a nominal cost, which you may be able to get waived if you qualify for indigency programs or assistance.

Now that you have your file, you get to begin the hard part, which is managing your own case. One of the most difficult things to do in propria persona is to make rational, dispassionate decisions about your own fate. You have legal issues to contend with at a time when you are also dealing with medical issues. Your thinking may not be the best at this time, and it quite frankly is very difficult to separate emotions from business, but you must make an effort.

Seek the help and advise of others who have been through the workers' compensation system to get a better understanding of the process. Use this time to educate yourself on workers' compensation - what it is, how it works, why things are the way they are. Gather as many resources as you can.

At workcompcentral we have seen many injured workers representing themselves who are often more educated and better prepared than many attorneys, simply because they have the time to read, read and read. Use the local law library. Ask questions in the workcompcentral Forums. Most jurisdictions have ombudsmen or information and assistance personnel who are trained to answer your workers' compensation legal questions. Search the Internet for answers. The more you know, the better educated you are, the more successful you will be in representing yourself.

Another word of advise, and one that is a difficult tenet to adhere to - remain as professional as possible under the circumstances. We are all human, and of course, all subject to mistakes of passion. However, most of the time the person delivering the bad message is not the decision maker, and getting angry at the messenger will only result in delays or worse. If you don't think that you are receiving proper treatment from the 'messenger', then take your complaint up the ladder, but always in a professional manner. Angry sentiment expressed at the messenger will make its way up the ladder before you climb, setting up preconceived perceptions that are probably not deserved. Before you lose your cool, ask for to speak with the next higher up, etc., until you get your question answered.

Finally, if you're reading this, then obviously it is too late. But if you have a chance again, do not hire any professional without first checking his or her official credentials, including status with the appropriate licensing authority, and get recommendations from others that have been through it. If you are looking for an attorney, the best place to find out who is good and who to avoid is at the local workers' compensation board or court. Ask your fellow injured workers sitting in the lobby who their attorney is and what they think. Don't settle for summary answers. Ask for specifics to back up the allegations or praise. Make sure to ask what kind of injury they have and whether they have been satisfied with the medical treatment they have received (many attorneys work with specific doctors, so you want to find out if the doctors that work with that attorney are satisfactory to the other clients as well).

Above all else, stay focused. You have one goal in mind - the resolution of your case. If you keep that in focus, then you will stay on the narrow track towards accomplishing that goal. Workers compensation has many detours along the way and it is easy to get distracted. When an issue comes up, deal with it so that it is not a distraction, but get back on track and do what you need to do to get your case over with, whether it is getting treatment, resolving indemnity questions, etc. All workers' compensation professionals work towards a single goal: resolution of the case. If you too have that as your goal, your case will go smoother, and will get resolved more quickly.