“Do I need a lawyer?”

Here is where the line falls.

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 DWCDWC Division of Workers’ Compensation, part of the Department of Industrial Relations. Administers the system. Information Services Center: 1-800-736-7401. 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 reviewUR Utilization Review. The process that approves, modifies, or denies each treatment request. A modification is a denial of what it left out. and IMRIMR Independent Medical Review. The appeal from a UR denial. 30 days (10 if the dispute is only over drugs on the MTUS Drug List). machinery. How that works.

You are heading toward a permanent disabilityPD Permanent Disability. Compensation for lasting impairment. A different and much lower weekly rate — 2026 maximum $290/week. rating, especially if surgery was involved. The rating stringRating string The row of numbers encoding your entire permanent disability calculation. Checkable arithmetic. is checkable and it goes wrong regularly.

ApportionmentApportionment Dividing permanent disability between industrial and non-industrial causes. It is to disability, not to findings on an image. is being asserted — that some of your disability is from age, a prior injury, arthritis, or something non-industrial.

You have a QMEQME Qualified Medical Evaluator. A state-certified physician who resolves disputes. Unrepresented workers get a panel of three by random draw. 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 ReleaseC&R — Compromise and Release A lump sum that closes future medical treatment permanently. that closes future medical.

You were fired after the injury. Both claims.

Your employer has no insurance. The UEBTFUEBTF Uninsured Employers Benefits Trust Fund. Pays benefits where the employer was illegally uninsured. process is procedurally unforgiving. How.

Your injury is catastrophic. Why these cases are different.

Or you had a prior disability, which may mean SIBTFSIBTF Subsequent Injuries Benefits Trust Fund. Pays where a pre-existing disability plus an industrial injury produce a substantially greater disability. Rewritten by SB 171 in July 2026. — and SB 171 rewrote SIBTF effective July 2026. What changed.

The honest middle

If you are unsure, the useful thing is a review, not a retainer. We look at a file for free and tell you whether there is anything worth doing. If there is not, we will tell you that — a case with nothing in it is not worth anyone’s time, including ours.

Related: What a lawyer costs · The claim, start to finish