Every firm tracks what a case costs to try, because expert fees, trial exhibits and depo transcripts arrive as invoices. Post-settlement lien resolution costs real money too, and nothing about it arrives as an invoice. It shows up as hours already paid for, as disbursement dates that lag, and as reductions nobody argued. There is an accounting cost associated with all three. In most states, outsourced lien resolution can be passed on to the client as a case expense, the same way you treat retaining an expert. Handled in-house, the identical work stays on firm overhead and the contingency fee does not change.
The work is done either way. The only question is whose financials it lands on.
What obligations attach at case acceptance, who you are actually negotiating against, the questions every lien file raises, where ABA Model Rules 1.1 and 1.15 apply, and how the economics change when the cost becomes a case expense.
Three areas in-house lien work takes money out of a personal injury firm. Hours nobody can get back, disbursements that get delayed, and reductions that were never argued. Plus the accounting change that moves the cost off firm overhead in most states.
A short walkthrough of the three places lien work takes money out of a firm, and why none of them show up on a report.
Self-funded ERISA liens are where unargued reductions cost the most, because the analysis turns on documents a firm has to affirmatively demand. Which documents to request and from whom, how the response clock becomes leverage, and where plan language leaves room to argue.
Synergy is the nation's largest provider of single-event healthcare lien resolution and Medicare Secondary Payer compliance for personal injury law firms. We act as an extension of the firm, removing the lien resolution administrative burden and ensuring compliance so our clients can focus on what they do best. Our team pairs deep subrogation expertise with advanced technology and industry leading customer service to deliver exceptional outcomes. With more than 300 years of combined experience across all 50 states, we have saved injury victims over $1 billion through strategic lien resolution.
Book a free Profit Impact Analysis and Synergy will walk your firm through where lien handling is taking time and money out of your practice.
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