Georgia Law Blog

I will tell everybody right off the bat that I am a huge fan and implementer of office technology. 

In Georgia, the State Board of Workers' Compensation has announced that it is going "paperless."  The new program, called ICMS, is supposed to take place in phases.  When I started to hear about this transition a year or more ago, I decided that my practice would also become paperless.  For those attorneys out there who are skeptical or resistant to going paperless, I will say this: at the end of the day it is absolutely worth the effort, even though it may be an uphill battle.  For me, it was only slightly uphill.

I will not discuss the intricacies of exactly how I transformed by practice to being paperless at the risk of boring you.  There are other blogs out there to help with things such as Adobe and the .pdf format.  Here are a few: Adobe For Legal Professionals and PDF For Lawyers.  The efficiency that I gained has been tremendous.  Sure there have been hardware upgrades such as a larger hard drive on our server computer, large flat screen monitors, thumb (USB) drives, portable printers, etc.  Back-up has also been a concern.  However, I will say that these costs have been minimal compared to the efficiency being paperless brings. 

A good quote: "It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but  the one most responsive to change."

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Posted In: Law Firm Technology

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The State Board of Workers' Compensation Annual Report is an interesting document published by the State Board of Workers' Compensation.  In my opinion, too many people ignore it to their detriment.  I don't know why the 2005 Annual Report is not out yet.  I keep a copy in my desk drawer for reference.  It tells us interesting information.  For example, the most common body part injured is the back at 10% of all reported injuries and 11% of all injuries reporting lost time from work.  It also tells us that claims have declined overall and insurance companies are paying less than in years past. 

The average settlement amount of a workers' compensation case in 2004, according to the report, is $25,115.08. 

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Posted In: Workers' Compensation Information

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The purpose of this blog is to provide information to the public and to serve as an information source for other attorneys, especially non-workers' compensation lawyers.  I find there is far too much bad information floating around out there.  As a Georgia workers' compensation attorney, I have confronted just about every conceivable question and concern from my clients.  Probably the most common fear expressed by my clients when they are injured is confusion.  Much of the confusion arises from the fact that workers' compensation has many pitfalls and nuisances. 

There are not a lot of attorneys that practice in the area.  The State Bar of Georgia currently lists 953 lawyers who are members of the Workers' Compensation Section.  I would estimate that of the 953, about 500 practice a great deal of workers' compensation law.   Keep in mind that the last time I checked, there were over 20,000 attorneys licensed to practice law in Georgia.  That translates to about 1 in 40 lawyers.

The current Census figures tell us the population of Georgia is just over 9,000,000.  That translates to about 1 workers' compensation attorney for every 18,000 people. 

My goal is simply to clear-up the confusion and discuss various issues important to injured workers, their families, and the legal community.

Posted by Jack E. Clay | Permalink | Email This Post | Comments (2)

Posted In: Our Law Firm Serving Atlanta & All of Georgia

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