Our Process
Every matter at the Linder Law Group passes through the same eight-stage cadence. The consistency of the cadence is what makes the file legible to the defense — and what makes the file defensible at trial.
Eight stages from intake to resolution.
- I
Intake and conflict clearance
The first client conversation is a substantive fact interview, not an intake questionnaire. Names of every party, every vehicle owner, every possible carrier, and every treating provider are captured in that first conversation. A written conflict check is run against the firm's client register and every named party is cleared before the retainer is signed. Statute of limitations is calendared to the day, with an additional internal ninety-day early-warning date.
- II
Engagement and document cascade
The retainer is signed. A templated cascade issues from the firm's document system: HIPAA authorizations for every treating provider; the no-fault application where the matter involves a motor vehicle; lien-preservation letters to any carrier that has advanced treatment; preservation letters to any party who may control evidence subject to overwriting (ECM data, surveillance video, employer records). The cascade issues within seven days of retention on ordinary matters and within forty-eight hours on commercial motor vehicle matters.
- III
Investigation
Scene photography or video, obtained personally or through the firm's investigator. Police accident report retrieval through the appropriate channel (NYPD, State Police, or municipal department). Witness canvassing. Where the matter involves a commercial vehicle, a request for the FMCSA safety-management file and the carrier's insurance profile. Where the matter involves premises liability, a records request for maintenance logs, cleaning contracts, and building-department violations at the address.
- IV
Medical records and chronology
Records requests issue to every treating provider identified at intake and to every provider subsequently disclosed. Records are Bates-numbered on receipt and integrated into a running chronology — organized by date of service, with a narrative summary of each encounter and a running index of diagnoses, imaging, medications, and referrals. The chronology is a working document, not a demand attachment: it drives the firm's own understanding of the medical trajectory and it is the source document for the eventual demand narrative.
- V
Damages package
Special damages are compiled into a spreadsheet with source-document citations to the Bates-numbered record: medical charges, out-of-pocket expense, lost wages (documented by employer wage statements and, where applicable, tax return supplementation), household-services loss, and future-anticipated cost supported by treating-provider projection. Where the matter warrants, a day-in-the-life production is commissioned; where the injury is catastrophic, a life-care planner is engaged.
- VI
Demand
The demand package is a written narrative document, not a form letter. It states the liability facts with citations to the investigative record; it states the injury and treatment with citations to the medical chronology; it states the damages with citations to the damages spreadsheet; and it demands a specific dollar amount, indexed to identified comparable New York verdicts and to the applicable policy limits. The demand is addressed to the claims committee, not to the individual adjuster.
- VII
Negotiation
Settlement conferences, structured mediation with a retired judge or senior mediator, and — where the carrier's posture warrants — direct engagement with the carrier's regional claims counsel. The firm does not negotiate against a moving target: the demand is stated, the response is documented, and the counter-offer is measured against the demand rather than against a shifting internal number.
- VIII
Litigation and trial
Where negotiation does not produce an acceptable resolution, the complaint is filed. Discovery is conducted with the trial in view: every deposition is taken to preserve testimony for trial, every document demand anticipates trial exhibits, every expert designation is made with the trial witness list in mind. The firm tries the cases that cannot be settled at value.
How long a matter typically takes.
Case-cycle timing is a function of the matter type, the medical trajectory, and the defense's willingness to reserve appropriately. For most motor vehicle and workers' compensation matters, the cycle from intake to resolution runs six to eighteen months. For catastrophic personal-injury matters and matters requiring extended discovery or trial, the cycle runs eighteen to thirty-six months.
The determining variable, in the firm's experience, is not the pace of the plaintiff's medical recovery — it is the willingness of the defense to acknowledge the file's value early. A well-prepared file shortens the cycle; a well-defended reserve prolongs it.
How the firm communicates.
The client receives an update at every material inflection point of the file: receipt of key medical records, transmission of the demand, receipt of the demand response, scheduling of mediation, filing of the complaint, notice of trial. Between inflection points, the firm is reachable by telephone and email for the client's own questions. Mr. Linder returns client calls within one business day as a matter of firm practice.
The firm does not send generic monthly newsletters or automated status reports. Every communication from the firm addresses a specific development on a specific file.