risk assessed

Whether it’s controlling the dog on an afternoon walk, or controlling your plans with friends. Perhaps it’s controlling the team at work or your personal finances. Perhaps it’s being the most successful person in your group. Whatever it is, it’s a big deal!

We are all humans. We all crave control. And that’s okay.

Most understand. Most also understand it can drive you crazy because…

Not all things in life can be controlled.

No matter how hard you try, some circumstances are unforeseeable.

You can get your car serviced, wash it, polish it, and clean the leather. But it’s not going to stop you from having an accident.

And once you have an accident, you can feel as though you’re on a slippery slide. But unlike a normal slippery slide, you haven’t initiated the descent. Someone has put you at the top and pushed you.

Because nobody ever gets into their car if they know they are going to have a car crash, right?

Right.

You can never be certain when that will happen.

Unforeseen accidents can rob you of your ability to work. Your ability to play. Your ability to have independence. Your ability to have control of your life.

And you shouldn’t be robbed of any more than you have. After all, you’ve worked hard. You’ve oiled your car. You’ve taken care of the leather. You’ve had it serviced. And you’ve paid your insurance premiums. You don’t deserve to be robbed of any more.

Insurance after a car accident is designed to give you back what you’ve lost. But when you go to make a claim, things are not always as clear as they were when you paid your premiums. Delay and denial tactics from the insurer can leave you frustrated.

And the best way to defeat delay and denial tactics from an insurer is with a lawyer. A lawyer that you can control.

It’s really quite easy. You take control by quite literally using CONTROL©.

What is CONTROL©?

It is a simple audit process to put you back in the driver’s seat.

A seven step process to guarantee faster, fairer payouts. A process to refine and perfect the quality of the legal advice you receive. A bulletproof process for total certainty.

The seven step CONTROL© Audit is simple. Each letter of the word is a step in the process. And together, the steps guarantee every element of work performed, every piece of legal advice, is in your control:

It’s a matter of asking your lawyer some simple questions, which will be outlined in a minute. Their answers will determine whether you will be guaranteed:

The fifth step in the CONTROL© audit is to assess whether the advice has been risk-assessed.

Compensation is a tricky process. A process that can (at times) be full of risk.

The legal world is a world dedicated to risk avoidance and risk removal.

Just look at the tricky language they use. There’s a reason for the confusing Latin, and the extremely longwinded sentences. It’s to remove ambiguity. Remove the risk of someone misinterpreting or twisting what’s been said.

But managing risk isn’t restricted to the language they use. That is just one small piece of a much larger puzzle.

It is a step by step process. A process which involves 4 critical steps. The same 4 critical steps used by Safe Work Australia:

Just as Safework Australia protects employees from risks and hazards in a workplace, a good lawyer will protect their clients from the risks and hazards of compensation claims. A good lawyer will do this using risk elimination.

In a compensation claim, potential hazards include:

Of course, the list goes on. There are plenty of hazards that could affect your final insurance payout. But all of them can be avoided with a lawyer who is focussed on risk-elimination.  

Assessing the risks gives you the chance to control them.

Just like Jack did. A 53 year-old tiler who was rear-ended on his way home from work.

Jack had incomplete financial records - there were great inconsistencies in his tax lodgements. He risked his credibility being questioned. And in compensation, credibility is extremely important. It helps a Judge determine the legitimacy of your claim.

It was extremely likely the Judge would notice these inconsistencies. The consequences could be extreme.

So Jack and his lawyer took necessary precautions immediately. Fixing his tax returns were just the first step.

Once you've identified the risks with your lawyer, you need to put control measures in place.

Luckily for Jack, he had a smart lawyer. He controlled his credibility by boosting it with evidence in the other four areas:

He aimed to prove his credibility despite the inconsistent tax returns.

Sure enough, the Judge brought the inconsistent tax returns to light, calling them “a work of fiction.”

But Jack was prepared.  

After presenting the mountain of other evidence to boost his credibility, The Judge concluded:

Jack received $461,249 in compensation. 

Not all contingency plans work. It's a fact of life. It makes constantly reviewing the plan vital. Ensuring there are no gaps. No leaks in the system.

For Jack, his hazard was inconsistent tax returns. The risk was his credibility being questioned. And one of his control measures was simply asking the question:

By asking the control question, his lawyer would have been immediately alerted to the weak financial evidence and done something about it.

Jack had to constantly assess the quality of the evidence he was collecting. He had to ensure it was capable of standing up to rigorous cross examination.

By using a lawyer that eliminated risk, Jack successfully controlled the potential for failure.

By using a lawyer that eliminates risk, you too could avoid failure. Failure you cannot afford.

All you have to do is run through the 4 Steps of Risk Assessment with your lawyer.

You will successfully guarantee yourself:

And like Jack, you will walk away with your head held high. No matter the hazards that stand in your way, a lawyer who uses risk-elimination techniques will help you control the outcome.

Like Jack, you’ll be certain your claim is bulletproof.