EP 31: Catastrophic Comebacks Begin with the
Intake Process (Part 1)

Welcome to the catastrophic comeback podcast with American Injury Lawyer Clark speaks, helping you find hope, purpose and joy after a catastrophic injury.

Welcome to catastrophic comeback. Today my guest is Stacey Miller. Stacy is an intake specialist at speaks law firm. And we're going to talk about the intake process, what's involved in it, what her role is, and what skills are necessary and how it fits into the rest of the process and how she works with our investigators and our team. Welcome, Stacey, thank you for being here.

Thank you for having me.

So tell me when I say intake, what does that mean to you? What does that what is? Where does that fit in what is intake.

So I like to call us the frontlines of personal injury speaks law firm, we're the people that take the first call, and want to really form that bond immediately with the person calling because they have been through something traumatic, and we want to make sure that they understand right off the gate that we're here for them, and that they aren't just another number. And that's really the most important thing, even if it's a case that you can't take, we want them to understand that, you know, we're sorry, we do we still care about them. And that if they ever need us in the future, we'll be there for him. So be there for them. So if it's a case we can't take, we still want to have formed that bond with them, if that makes sense. Sure,

yeah, we want to provide some kind of value on their way out the door, and maybe get to get them to somebody who can help them with their exactly problem. Okay, and so and so the cases that we can help them with are generally going to be personal injury cases, workers compensation cases. And then what, what are the keys to you in terms of really doing a bit being the best at the intake process from your perspective,

so for me, and the reason that I love this job is because I do get to talk to people and form a bond and a connection with them. Usually, you can connect with just about anybody, I think on this planet, you know, fellow human being, at least I can, you can find something that you have in common with and that you can empathize with. I feel like I'm very good at that. As well as Tracy who I work with, she's also very good at that. And, as we'll talk about later, our prior law enforcement experience, I think, has only deepened that ability to connect with people. I love people, I love talking to people and being around people, I'm not someone that enjoys spending a lot of time alone at my job, because I just feel like you can do more. For me personally, I can do more when I'm out there talking to people getting to know people and forming that connection with them.

So helping people as a part of your motivation in this role,

it is very definition of who I am. Okay,

well, let me ask you this, where does so So helping people I understand what you mean, I think pretty much everybody who works in this industry. And in the personal industry, a personal injury industry has to have a deep commitment and a belief that, you know, their calling is to help other people, especially in difficult situations. That's kind of the purpose of this podcast is to is to help other people in those kinds of situations. Let me ask you this in terms of so you've got to be somebody who's who's a helper at their core. In addition to that, where does urgency you talked about empathy, detail, where did these these things fit into the, to the makeup of a of a have a first class, intake professional. So

the urgency is, obviously when someone has had something traumatic happened to them, you know, they want someone to be able to say, hey, we can help you. And I think, as Americans in general, we don't like to wait for anything. I know, I don't, I don't like to wait for anything. I have no patience or ugly when it comes to just waiting around for something. So the fact that we are so good at calling you back, getting to the point of what you need us for getting it done getting the intake, the details of your situation, and assigning a case manager and the rapid fashion that I feel like we do, it just makes them feel like they are important and what happened to them is important and that we're taking it seriously.

So let me ask you this from an evidentiary perspective from from like, investigation from collecting records from collecting details from collecting evidence as IT support force as it relates to an injury, improving an injury and damages, is injury is urgency important in that regard?

Absolutely. It's very important, it's, we need to find out, you know, what their medical treatment is, what it's going to look like in the future. And we want to be able to actually help them and guide them with that treatment, that's something that we can do that we, we do well, and it just is an added stress off of them in regards to their trauma. So when we say, hey, we can help you with that we can help you with your medical treatment, we can help guide you in that direction. And if you aren't hearing back from people we want to do, we want to be that person that that gets you results.

So if a person, if we don't, if if a firm or an individual doesn't have that end, urgency. And then and then as a result, evidence is lost, or there are gaps in medical treatment, how does that end up affecting a person's case in your observation? Well,

unfortunately, it it will not in the end, as the end result, it will not get them the best possible settlement that they can get. And we were out there to try and help them do just that, you know, we want to make sure that everything is paid for. And we can't do that if we don't have if we don't jump on those details and that evidence and make sure that we have all the pieces in place to get them the bid. Well, I don't want to say that. But like all the pieces in place to help them in the end, the best that we can show,

I think that's reasonable, we're trying to maximize the recovery, right? Can't do it. We can't do it if we are if we are missing evidence, or if there are gaps in treatment, right? If there is a gap in in treatment, medical treatment, and a person is injured and should have gone to the doctor or the ER specialist or whatever. And doesn't, the insurance company is going to jump all over that and cite that as a basis for paying them nothing or less than they deserve. And so that's what, and the same with law seven. And so if we can't prove our case, ultimately, if we can't, if they're, you know, if there are witnesses that disappear, and we can't prove liability, or if there's video video evidence, and we can't prove liability, then that ends up negatively impacting the value of somebody's case. And along those lines, when we're talking about evidence, you mentioned it earlier in terms of your background in law enforcement. I talked to firms, to people that run firms from all over the country. And and sometimes they'll say, Well, in my intake department, I'll use, you know, former receptionist or former hostesses at restaurants and those kinds of things. They're friendly, and they're nice. And and, and I'm thinking, Well, Mike, you know, our guys are friendly, and nice. But but but your background is different than that. Tell us about your background, please.

So before I came here, I was in law enforcement for five years before that I was a private investigator for six years. And I absolutely came into those positions because of my strong desire to help people. That's part of my DNA, I come from that type of family service driven. I don't think I could do a job where I did not feel like I was helping people. I don't feel like it would be satisfying to me at all to just be in a job, where I was just doing my work without actually making a difference in somebody's life. And so I've been so very happily, happily. I don't want to say surprised, but I have just been overwhelmed with how much I'm doing that in this job, how much I feel like I'm doing that in this job. And how when people leave me, I we're either laughing or we're we're talking about what's going on in their life other than the traumatic event and like, I feel like we've really formed a bond and that they trust me. And that's something that I take very seriously that they trust me. So my background in law enforcement and private investigation has given me absolutely the strength and skills to be able to ask the right questions, be able to be detailed and what I asked and you know why I'm asking it but more importantly, it has really given me the confidence to be able to empathize with somebody with what's going on and talk to anyone. Regardless of who you are, where you come from, where you work, what you do. I am going to be able to empathize with you and that you know, I I can't always understand exactly your situation, but I can certainly put myself in your place and make you feel Oh, that, you know, I'm here for you and I care.

Let me ask you about your experience. And first you were in private investigation, and then you were in law enforcement, is that right? Correct. private investigation, you know, what kind of work did you do? And did it involve, you know, the some of the similar types of investigative things we think of when we're thinking about investigating accidents, wrecks, falls, industrial accidents, those kinds of things. Well,

oddly enough, we, we worked a lot of murder cases for the state. And so that gave me a lot of interesting perspective. But most of our cases were child custody cases. And I, I really enjoyed those because I felt like I was helping a child and a parent and a family in terms of what's best for that child, and that sort of thing. But there was hours upon hours of interviews and investigation into finding a lot of document, bank statements, things of that nature. I mean, we did a lot of investigation on the computer. That was one of my specialties. So

So investigation, detailed documentation, these are things that came up a lot in your in your job. And as a private investigator, now let's move on to your job and law enforcement, that these same types of skills come up then documentation, detail investigation,

it's everything and law enforcement to be as detailed as you possibly can. So that if you do have to go to court, you basically are not going to be tripped up when you're on the stand, and testifying. So the more details, the better. And then, of course, how you how you write it, and your reports, that's everything as well in law enforcement.

So my experience, the reason for that detail is so important is because you record it today. And then you might not, you might not use it for six months, nine months, 12 months, or whatever. And you have to record it with a detail sufficient to be able to go back and see exactly what you meant, exactly what the details were, so that you can prove the things that you need to prove to get the result that you that is just right. So so. So when you did that in law enforcement, and and how important Have you found those skills to be in your position in intake?

Well, I think, very important, because I was able to just pick right up and ask those questions that needed to be asked, and you actually touched on it earlier about how some intake are, you know, they're trying to, you know, they're emotional, and they're trying to tell you what's going on. And then you're like, oh, excuse me, wait, what was your dress or blah, blah, blah? The thing that I like to do is, first i i Say, Hi, I'm so and so I heard you had an accident. I'm so sorry. Can you tell me about that. And then I just let them tell me about that and whatever manner that they want to. And then as I go back and give them a synopsis, I can fill in any gaps I need. But I need them to initially be able to trust me enough to just tell me what happened first and not interrupt them. I know from just my own experience, I don't I don't like to be interrupted when I'm telling you something that's important in my life. So I always go back and that is one thing that you are taught in investigator school is to let them talk, then go back and do a synopsis of what they said and fill in the blanks. Thank you for joining

us, and we'll see you next time.

Welcome to the catastrophic comeback podcast with American Injury Lawyer Clark speaks, helping you find hope, purpose and joy after a catastrophic injury.

Welcome to catastrophic comeback. Today my guest is Stacey Miller. Stacy is an intake specialist at speaks law firm. And we're going to talk about the intake process, what's involved in it, what her role is, and what skills are necessary and how it fits into the rest of the process and how she works with our investigators and our team. Welcome, Stacey, thank you for being here.

Thank you for having me.

So tell me when I say intake, what does that mean to you? What does that what is? Where does that fit in what is intake.

So I like to call us the frontlines of personal injury speaks law firm, we're the people that take the first call, and want to really form that bond immediately with the person calling because they have been through something traumatic, and we want to make sure that they understand right off the gate that we're here for them, and that they aren't just another number. And that's really the most important thing, even if it's a case that you can't take, we want them to understand that, you know, we're sorry, we do we still care about them. And that if they ever need us in the future, we'll be there for him. So be there for them. So if it's a case we can't take, we still want to have formed that bond with them, if that makes sense. Sure,

yeah, we want to provide some kind of value on their way out the door, and maybe get to get them to somebody who can help them with their exactly problem. Okay, and so and so the cases that we can help them with are generally going to be personal injury cases, workers compensation cases. And then what, what are the keys to you in terms of really doing a bit being the best at the intake process from your perspective,

so for me, and the reason that I love this job is because I do get to talk to people and form a bond and a connection with them. Usually, you can connect with just about anybody, I think on this planet, you know, fellow human being, at least I can, you can find something that you have in common with and that you can empathize with. I feel like I'm very good at that. As well as Tracy who I work with, she's also very good at that. And, as we'll talk about later, our prior law enforcement experience, I think, has only deepened that ability to connect with people. I love people, I love talking to people and being around people, I'm not someone that enjoys spending a lot of time alone at my job, because I just feel like you can do more. For me personally, I can do more when I'm out there talking to people getting to know people and forming that connection with them.

So helping people as a part of your motivation in this role,

it is very definition of who I am. Okay,

well, let me ask you this, where does so So helping people I understand what you mean, I think pretty much everybody who works in this industry. And in the personal industry, a personal injury industry has to have a deep commitment and a belief that, you know, their calling is to help other people, especially in difficult situations. That's kind of the purpose of this podcast is to is to help other people in those kinds of situations. Let me ask you this in terms of so you've got to be somebody who's who's a helper at their core. In addition to that, where does urgency you talked about empathy, detail, where did these these things fit into the, to the makeup of a of a have a first class, intake professional. So

the urgency is, obviously when someone has had something traumatic happened to them, you know, they want someone to be able to say, hey, we can help you. And I think, as Americans in general, we don't like to wait for anything. I know, I don't, I don't like to wait for anything. I have no patience or ugly when it comes to just waiting around for something. So the fact that we are so good at calling you back, getting to the point of what you need us for getting it done getting the intake, the details of your situation, and assigning a case manager and the rapid fashion that I feel like we do, it just makes them feel like they are important and what happened to them is important and that we're taking it seriously.

So let me ask you this from an evidentiary perspective from from like, investigation from collecting records from collecting details from collecting evidence as IT support force as it relates to an injury, improving an injury and damages, is injury is urgency important in that regard?

Absolutely. It's very important, it's, we need to find out, you know, what their medical treatment is, what it's going to look like in the future. And we want to be able to actually help them and guide them with that treatment, that's something that we can do that we, we do well, and it just is an added stress off of them in regards to their trauma. So when we say, hey, we can help you with that we can help you with your medical treatment, we can help guide you in that direction. And if you aren't hearing back from people we want to do, we want to be that person that that gets you results.

So if a person, if we don't, if if a firm or an individual doesn't have that end, urgency. And then and then as a result, evidence is lost, or there are gaps in medical treatment, how does that end up affecting a person's case in your observation? Well,

unfortunately, it it will not in the end, as the end result, it will not get them the best possible settlement that they can get. And we were out there to try and help them do just that, you know, we want to make sure that everything is paid for. And we can't do that if we don't have if we don't jump on those details and that evidence and make sure that we have all the pieces in place to get them the bid. Well, I don't want to say that. But like all the pieces in place to help them in the end, the best that we can show,

I think that's reasonable, we're trying to maximize the recovery, right? Can't do it. We can't do it if we are if we are missing evidence, or if there are gaps in treatment, right? If there is a gap in in treatment, medical treatment, and a person is injured and should have gone to the doctor or the ER specialist or whatever. And doesn't, the insurance company is going to jump all over that and cite that as a basis for paying them nothing or less than they deserve. And so that's what, and the same with law seven. And so if we can't prove our case, ultimately, if we can't, if they're, you know, if there are witnesses that disappear, and we can't prove liability, or if there's video video evidence, and we can't prove liability, then that ends up negatively impacting the value of somebody's case. And along those lines, when we're talking about evidence, you mentioned it earlier in terms of your background in law enforcement. I talked to firms, to people that run firms from all over the country. And and sometimes they'll say, Well, in my intake department, I'll use, you know, former receptionist or former hostesses at restaurants and those kinds of things. They're friendly, and they're nice. And and, and I'm thinking, Well, Mike, you know, our guys are friendly, and nice. But but but your background is different than that. Tell us about your background, please.

So before I came here, I was in law enforcement for five years before that I was a private investigator for six years. And I absolutely came into those positions because of my strong desire to help people. That's part of my DNA, I come from that type of family service driven. I don't think I could do a job where I did not feel like I was helping people. I don't feel like it would be satisfying to me at all to just be in a job, where I was just doing my work without actually making a difference in somebody's life. And so I've been so very happily, happily. I don't want to say surprised, but I have just been overwhelmed with how much I'm doing that in this job, how much I feel like I'm doing that in this job. And how when people leave me, I we're either laughing or we're we're talking about what's going on in their life other than the traumatic event and like, I feel like we've really formed a bond and that they trust me. And that's something that I take very seriously that they trust me. So my background in law enforcement and private investigation has given me absolutely the strength and skills to be able to ask the right questions, be able to be detailed and what I asked and you know why I'm asking it but more importantly, it has really given me the confidence to be able to empathize with somebody with what's going on and talk to anyone. Regardless of who you are, where you come from, where you work, what you do. I am going to be able to empathize with you and that you know, I I can't always understand exactly your situation, but I can certainly put myself in your place and make you feel Oh, that, you know, I'm here for you and I care.

Let me ask you about your experience. And first you were in private investigation, and then you were in law enforcement, is that right? Correct. private investigation, you know, what kind of work did you do? And did it involve, you know, the some of the similar types of investigative things we think of when we're thinking about investigating accidents, wrecks, falls, industrial accidents, those kinds of things. Well,

oddly enough, we, we worked a lot of murder cases for the state. And so that gave me a lot of interesting perspective. But most of our cases were child custody cases. And I, I really enjoyed those because I felt like I was helping a child and a parent and a family in terms of what's best for that child, and that sort of thing. But there was hours upon hours of interviews and investigation into finding a lot of document, bank statements, things of that nature. I mean, we did a lot of investigation on the computer. That was one of my specialties. So

So investigation, detailed documentation, these are things that came up a lot in your in your job. And as a private investigator, now let's move on to your job and law enforcement, that these same types of skills come up then documentation, detail investigation,

it's everything and law enforcement to be as detailed as you possibly can. So that if you do have to go to court, you basically are not going to be tripped up when you're on the stand, and testifying. So the more details, the better. And then, of course, how you how you write it, and your reports, that's everything as well in law enforcement.

So my experience, the reason for that detail is so important is because you record it today. And then you might not, you might not use it for six months, nine months, 12 months, or whatever. And you have to record it with a detail sufficient to be able to go back and see exactly what you meant, exactly what the details were, so that you can prove the things that you need to prove to get the result that you that is just right. So so. So when you did that in law enforcement, and and how important Have you found those skills to be in your position in intake?

Well, I think, very important, because I was able to just pick right up and ask those questions that needed to be asked, and you actually touched on it earlier about how some intake are, you know, they're trying to, you know, they're emotional, and they're trying to tell you what's going on. And then you're like, oh, excuse me, wait, what was your dress or blah, blah, blah? The thing that I like to do is, first i i Say, Hi, I'm so and so I heard you had an accident. I'm so sorry. Can you tell me about that. And then I just let them tell me about that and whatever manner that they want to. And then as I go back and give them a synopsis, I can fill in any gaps I need. But I need them to initially be able to trust me enough to just tell me what happened first and not interrupt them. I know from just my own experience, I don't I don't like to be interrupted when I'm telling you something that's important in my life. So I always go back and that is one thing that you are taught in investigator school is to let them talk, then go back and do a synopsis of what they said and fill in the blanks. Thank you for joining

us, and we'll see you next time.