Write up what happened, while you still remember it
Answer the questions a law firm's intake team would ask. Get back an organised written summary that belongs to you.
Why bother
Memory for detail decays fast and specifically. Within a fortnight most people cannot reliably place the time of day, the weather, which lane, who said what at the scene, or the date treatment started. Those details are exactly what a claim turns on later, and they are free to capture now.
There is a second reason. If you do eventually speak to a lawyer, arriving with an organised written account rather than a half-remembered story makes that first conversation substantially more useful to both of you.
What it asks about
The incident
- Date, time, and exactly where
- What happened, in your own words
- Who else was involved and their details
- Police, incident or ambulance reports
- Witnesses and how to reach them
- Photographs or video, and who has them
The injuries and treatment
- What was hurt, and what has changed since
- Where you were treated and when it started
- Ongoing treatment and referrals
- Time off work and lost earnings
- Out-of-pocket costs so far
- Prior injuries to the same area, which matters more than people expect
Insurance and notice
- Your own auto policy and, if you have it, your tort election
- The other party's insurer and any claim number
- Anything an adjuster has already asked or offered
- For a work injury, when and how you told your employer
- Whether any government body may be involved
What it does not ask
- Your social security number
- Bank or payment card details
- Your immigration status
- Anything it does not need
If a website asks an injured person for a social security number before anyone has been retained, that is worth a pause.
What you get, and what we do with it
You get a written summary of your own answers, organised in the order a firm reviews these things. You can print it, save it, or email it to anyone you like.
We do not send it anywhere. We do not forward it to a law firm, we do not offer to introduce you to anyone, and we are not paid by anyone who might receive it. If you want a lawyer to see it, you choose the lawyer and you send it. That is not a limitation of the tool, it is the point of it.
Three things to be clear about
It is not privileged. We are not your lawyer, so what you write here does not carry attorney-client protection. What you tell an actual attorney generally does, even in a consultation that goes nowhere.
It is not an assessment. The summary contains your account. It contains no opinion from us about whether you have a claim, because we are not able to form one.
It is not a substitute for seeing a lawyer. Deadlines are running whether or not anyone has written anything down.
If you give us a phone number
You do not have to. If you choose to, we will ask you separately and in plain terms whether you want us to contact you and how, and we will keep a record of exactly what you agreed to and when. You can withdraw it at any time by replying STOP to a text, or by writing to us. We do not pass your number to anyone else.