Increasingly, I get inquiries for assistance with a specific part of a long term disability insurance claim.  People involved in an LTD insurance dispute (usually an ERISA governed claim) want to know if I will assist with completing the application, simply review an application, write an appeal letter only, draft the opening document for the lawsuit (the "Complaint"), review a buyout offer, draft a buyout demand, or review a release.  This concept of limited attorney assistance on a claim, with the goal of reducing overall attorney fees, is gaining in popularity in many aspects of civil claims.  It is known within the legal business as "unbundling" legal services.  It is not how attorneys have traditionally worked on legal matters, since it is difficult to isolate just one aspect of a legal claim or dispute, which is almost always multi-faceted.  Additionally, there are questions as to the attorney's professional liability for giving advice only on one aspect of a case, knowing that advice will impact other aspects of the claim, to which the client will have to respond.  Is the attorney still professionally obligated to assist or advise later to avoid a negative outcome, although only engaged for one very particular part of the claim?  This is not merely an academic question, since courts have found the attorney is in deed liable for the eventual outcome of the client's claim, although only contracted to provide legal services for a small part of the claim.  You begin to see the reason that attorneys (myself included) who primarily work with ERISA long term disability insurance claims are hesitant to take piece meal work.

But to answer the original client inquiry, yes, sometimes I will advise for a set hourly fee on a specific portion of a long term disability insurance dispute.  I do not yet have a "menu" of fees for the portions of an LTD claim set out above, and am not sure if I can develop such a price sheet.  For now I will consider a potential client's request to handle a limited portion of the claim on a case by case basis, and as my time permits.  I recognize that increasingly clients are so financially devastated by the long term disability insurance denials that they have to consider all alternatives to traditional attorney fee models, such as the contingency fee.  Is "unbundling" legal fees the better approach to legal representation?  I'm not sure, but I am sure that obtaining the best result in the most affordable way for people trying to survive extraordinary distress brought on by arbitrary and irresponsible denials of long term disability insurance benefits must remain the ultimate goal.  I'd be happy to respond to your thoughts and comments.  Randy Noah