Legal Assistant Specialized Fields: Workman’s Comp
Workman’s Compensation Legal Assistant
Workman’s compensation laws were put in place to provide employees with benefits, such as pay, medical bills, or other benefits, in the event that an employee suffers personal injury or disability while on the job. A workman’s compensation attorney upholds the rights of the injured party to make sure they receive the benefits they have a right to.
A workman’s compensation legal assistant is a professional who specifically provides assistance to a workman’s comp lawyer. Expected legal assistant duties, such as research, filing paperwork, and dealing with claims and lawsuits related to workman’s compensation cases will be part of the daily duties, but what else is expected in this specialized field? Let’s take a look at the details of a workman’s compensation legal assistant.
Becoming a Workman’s Comp Legal Assistant
In order to become a legal assistant in the workman’s compensation field, you must first:
- Obtain a certificate or degree in paralegal studies
- Become informed with workman’s compensation laws, procedures, and processes.
- Some workman’s compensation practices may require you to have previous experience as a legal assistant before you can be hired as an assistant for a worker’s compensation lawyer.
Obtaining the right education can play a big role in whether or not you are able to successfully enter this particular specialized field.
Workman’s Comp Legal Assistant Job Description
Some of the unique duties of a workman’s comp legal assistant are listed below. Before entering this specialized field, it’s a good idea to take the following into consideration:
- Meet with injured clients for interviews and to fill out intake forms. May sometimes be required to conduct interviews in a hospital.
- Work directly and efficiently with the attorney. Often in these cases, the insurance companies or the corporate attorney’s will try to prove the employee was injured or disabled as a direct result of negligent behavior on the part of the employee. You have to stay one step ahead of these legal games.
- Ability to deal with clients who have often suffered traumatic and debilitating injuries.
- Continue to update your skills and stay abreast of any changes to workman’s compensation laws, insurance laws, medical laws, etc.
- Conduct research and contact physicians directly related to the injury or disease incurred.
- Gather background information about the injured worker, such as prior claims, medical history, pre-existing injuries, and criminal records
- Obtain data from employers, such as information on wages the client was receiving, length of employment, and any files pertaining to the client.
- Gather information so you completely understand what the injured worker was required to do while on the job.
As you can see from the information listed above, a workman’s comp legal assistant is a challenging and fast paced career. You’ll be required to perform many tasks and must be detail oriented with the ability to perform thorough research.
Keep in mind that workman’s compensation attorneys who represent the client are often looked at like “ambulance chasers”, much the same as personal injury attorneys. You’ll need to make sure this is the right career for you and that you have the ability to hold up under pressure before choosing a career as this type of legal assistant.