Low first offers
An insurer's opening number is a negotiating position, not a valuation of your injuries. It arrives before treatment is finished, and a thin file is cheap to close. The test we apply to any offer is whether it accounts for the complete record, or only for the file as it stood when the offer was made.
Six of the seven recoveries this firm publishes show the insurer's first offer beside the outcome. One truck collision opened at $100,000 and resolved for $6,300,000. A rear-end crash opened at $31,500 and resolved for $1,250,000. On a slip and fall there was no offer at all until the store's own security footage arrived, and it resolved for $1,000,000. Those are seven cases with their own facts, not a forecast for yours, and the whole ledger is on case results.
Fees and costs
There is no fee unless we recover. The fee is a percentage of the recovery, agreed in writing before the work starts. California law requires that agreement to spell out the rate, explain how case costs affect the fee, and state plainly that the fee is negotiable. Case costs are a different thing: filing fees, records, imaging, deposition transcripts, and the expert physicians a serious claim needs. We advance them, and they are repaid from the recovery. If there is no recovery, you owe no fee and no case costs.
Where the money goes when a case resolves| Line | Who it goes to | When it is set |
|---|
| Attorney fee | The firm | Your written fee agreement, before the case starts |
| Case costs | Repaid to the firm | Itemized in writing at the end |
| Medical liens | Health plan, hospital, or treating doctor | Negotiated before anything is paid out |
| The remainder | You | After the three lines above |
The third line, medical liens, is the one clients rarely expect. A lien is a right to be repaid out of your settlement, held by whoever paid for or provided your treatment, and liens are negotiable. The gap between the settlement figure and the amount that reaches a client is usually decided there, after the settlement is agreed.
Meeting locations
Our headquarters are in Tarzana, at 18653 Ventura Blvd., Suite 361, which is the address on the responsible attorney line at the foot of every page on this site. A client recovering from surgery does not have to cross the county to sign a form: documents are signed electronically, and when a meeting matters we hold it at the office, at the hospital, at home, or by video.
Most of a case does not require an office visit. Documents move by phone and text, and treatment happens near where you live. If you want to meet in person, say which office on the first call. Addresses and map links are on contact us, and the cities the firm serves are listed on locations.
Cases for another firm
If you want a firm that will file suit tomorrow to make a point, that is not how we work; suit is a tool, and we use it when the number will not move. If you want a number promised before anyone has read a medical record, no lawyer can give you one. If your claim is worth less than the cost of pursuing it, we will tell you and explain how to handle it yourself. And if the case belongs in another state, it belongs with a lawyer admitted there.
Our fact checking
Every legal statement on this site cites the code section it comes from, and every page carries the date Josh Kohanim, Esq., last reviewed it. Our sourcing and corrections policy is at editorial standards. The terms this site is offered under are in the disclaimer, and what happens to information you send us is in the privacy policy. What clients have said about working with the firm, uncompensated and in their own words, is on client reviews.
Next steps
Wise Law is a Los Angeles injury practice founded in 2020. Its founder and trial attorney is admitted in California under License No. 328609, and the firm works a defined set of case types on contingency from its Tarzana headquarters. The method is the four steps above, the cost is nothing unless we recover, and the published ledger shows what the insurance company offered first. More on the attorney is on Josh Kohanim, Esq.
The law of each case type is on the practice areas pages, and the questions injured people ask most are answered on the FAQ. If a deadline is running on your case, the next step is a phone call. Tell us what happened and when.
Written and reviewed by Josh Kohanim, Esq., California Bar No. 328609 · Reviewed