Q: Why is it so hard to hire a workers comp attorney in Texas?

A: Wow you seem to have significant injuries that were logically caused by your employment. As long as the employer has no defense (intoxication, horseplay...) you seem to have a viable case. The IC could allege "Act of God" (i.e. turbulence) however, I doubt that defense would work because as a "flight attendant" you are at a greater risk of being injured due to turbulence. But to the real crux of the problem, IW's lawyers are "seemingly" paid the same as IC lawyers but lets dig a little deeper shall we. The DWC "pretend"s that the lawyers are on equal footing and even has the backing of the Texas Supreme Court in "Garcia". Lawyers for IW are limited to being paid 25% of the recovery of income benefits. So regarding a recovery of income benefits that nets $1,000 the lawyer gets paid $250, IF HE WINS! Let's calculate the REAL disparity with all the crap striped away! How much would a IC lawyer make on the same case? SImilar to the IW lawyer the IC lawyer is authorized to be paid $150 an hour. Also the IC lawyer and the IW lawyer are both allowed by DWC rules to bill 2.5 hours for communication each month with their "clients" and an additional 3.0 hours for dispute resolution with the other parties each month. Let's say it takes 3 months from the dispute, beginning with a BRC and through a CCH. DWC allows actual time in a BRC (generally about 30 minutes) plus 2 hours to prepare for the BRC. In addition DWC allows actual time (about 2 hours) in a a CCH plus 4 hours to prepare for the CCH. Got it? So for 3 months the attorneys can bill ((2.5 X 3) + (3.0 x 3) + 2.5 BRC + 6 CCH) =25 hours.Now ignoring the fact that IW's are typically very concerned about their future employment/medical treatment and want to discuss their case much more than 2.5 hours a month; we will "pretend" 2.5 hours communication a month is more than sufficient to ease the concerns of the IW, whose job is not in WC. On the other hand the IC lawyer is dealing with an adjuster whose job is WC. Who do you think will need their hand held, (and rightfully so)? Now each lawyer is entitled to be paid $150 an hour for their 25 hours of work, or $3,750. But we have to worry about that pesky "pretend" word again because if the lawyers for IW's lose, they no get paid! (sic) But they could still get a partial win as in my example of winning $1,000. To actually win and cover the attorney fees the IW attorney must win $15,000 ($3,750/.25) . Many cases do not involve that amount of money to begin with but lawyer for IC's do not have to concern themselves with the amount in dispute. Another pesky problem is that if the IW's lawyer does not have their fees approved by DWC before the IC makes payment to the IW, the lawyer does not get paid fees. IW's lawyers cannot recover fees from IW. The IC lawyer does not have to worry about recovery limited to 25%, losing or not having fees paid before the IC issues payment to the IW. Oh yes, I can see exactly why the Supreme Court of Texas, supposedly the smartest court in Texas, cannot find a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution in the current WC Act.