"Do I need a lawyer?"

Most pages asking this question answer "yes." We are going to give you the actual answer, which is that it depends, and the dividing line is reasonably clear.

You probably do not need one

• The claim was accepted, treatment is being authorized, and payments are arriving every two weeks
• You returned to your job and the injury resolved
• There is no permanent impairment and no dispute about it
• The whole thing is small and it is going well

The state also provides free help. Every DWC district office has an Information & Assistance officer who answers questions and helps with forms at no cost. That is a real resource and it is underused. Where the district offices are.

You probably do

Your claim was denied or delayed.

They are stopping or have stopped your benefits.

Treatment is being denied, and you are inside the utilization review and IMR machinery. How that works.

You are heading toward a permanent disability rating, especially if surgery was involved. The rating string is checkable and it goes wrong regularly.

Apportionment is being asserted — that some of your disability is from age, a prior injury, arthritis, or something non-industrial.

You have a QME panel and deadlines are running. The specialty and the timing rules here are unforgiving. The QME process.

Someone other than your employer contributed to the injury — a driver, a machine manufacturer, a property owner, a general contractor. A third-party case pays for pain and suffering, which workers' compensation does not, and it is frequently worth more than the comp claim. How.

You are being offered a settlement, particularly a Compromise and Release that closes future medical.

You were fired after the injury. Both claims.

Your employer has no insurance. The UEBTF process is procedurally unforgiving. How.

Your injury is catastrophic. Why these cases are different.

Or you had a prior disability, which may mean SIBTF — and SB 171 rewrote SIBTF effective July 2026. What changed.