The public health crisis brought about by the COVID-19 outbreak has drastically upended many facets of life, not least of which is the way business is conducted. Among the sectors most affected is the legal industry. Not only have social distancing measures changed the way court proceedings are conducted, but they’ve drastically impacted the way attorneys interact with their clients.
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted everyday life in an unprecedented way. With several places across the United States bearing lockdowns and/or shifting policies as new developments arise, most (if not all) industries were forced to change the way they operate.
Lawyers juggle numerous tasks to keep their cases moving forward. They meet with their clients, conduct research, draft legal documents, and accomplish many other things. One of the most crucial yet time-consuming parts of their work is obtaining records.
When your law firm is just starting out or operating when the economy is down (like during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis), you may be tempted to do everything in-house to save money. The problem with this approach is that your staff may spend too much time on tasks that are either mundane or beyond their skill set.
Whenever a crisis hits, many individuals and organizations consult lawyers on matters such as filing insurance claims and inquiring about their legal options. However, the COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent stay-at-home orders issued across the United States have made it difficult for lawyers to serve their clients.
Law firms and insurance companies rely heavily on records to effectively do their work. For example, to win a personal injury case, lawyers need to gather incident reports, medical records, and more documents to support their client’s claim. Insurers, on the other hand, use medical records to evaluate an applicant’s risk.
The strength of your client’s car insurance claim or personal injury lawsuit lies in your ability to prove two things: the other driver or external factors were at fault for the car accident and your client suffered damages. To support these two assertions, you need documentation.
Many practicing attorneys in the United States handle a lot of medical malpractice and personal injury cases, both of which rely heavily on medical records. The problem is that these records tend to be long, complex, and full of medical jargon, making these hard to sort through and comprehend for people outside the medical field.
Records play a huge role in the work of all insurance companies, whether they handle policies for life, health, disability, automobile, or others. For life insurance policies, for example, they use medical records in evaluating an applicant’s risk.
Retrieving records is crucial in legal and insurance work. But it’s a time-consuming task that requires multiple follow-ups and knowledge of the laws and regulations on retaining and releasing records. That’s why many law firms and insurance companies in the United States outsource their record retrieval needs.