Background
I spent sixteen years at a prominent plaintiff personal injury firm in Honolulu, helping attorneys resolve thousands of injury claims. For most of that time I held two jobs at once: one on the cases, one on the operations and technology behind them. The firm's headcount grew 30% while I was there.
Roles, 2008 to 2024
Case consultant to all teams on denials, coverage, reimbursement rights and apportionment. Wrote briefs for motions, arbitration and trial. Legal and medical research.
Ran day-to-day operations for the senior partner’s team of 6 to 8, including hiring, training and performance. Reviewed demands, analyzed offers, negotiated with insurers and lienholders.
Managed cases from prospective client screening through litigation: liability and damages investigation, insurance, experts, demands, discovery, depositions and trial preparation.
Records requests, document management, filings, calendaring and scheduling for the senior partner’s team.
Managed the outside IT vendor, hardware, applications, network, user accounts and security policy.
Planned and rolled out firm-wide projects across facilities, tools and technology.
On-call support for every user and workgroup. Vendor relationships, pricing, contracts, purchasing and supplies.
Selected case results
Cases I worked on as a paralegal. The results were obtained by the firm's attorneys for their clients, and every case turns on its own facts.
Leg fractures and a long hospitalization. The insurer denied liability and disputed causation. The health plan’s reimbursement claim of over $100k was resolved for $1k.
Low back surgery with under $1k in property damage. The carrier called the injury pre-existing until a detailed rebuttal and talks with the claim manager.
Workers’ compensation paid medical care, which stalled after a surgical recommendation. The arbitrator found damages over $900k.
Reassigned to me four months before mediation with records, experts, witnesses and visual aids still missing from the file.
No underinsured coverage on the motorcycle policy and no resident relatives. Benefits were found under three additional policies, and a $50k lien was cut by 80%.
The insurer appealed a $60k arbitration award. After a one-week jury trial, costs and sanctions, it paid more than its policy limit.
Projects led
Get in touch
I'm working on a personal injury course for paralegals and on technical systems for claim operations. See what I'm building, or send a message.
I'm not an attorney. I don't give legal advice or represent claimants.