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I would do the same dealing with the liable insurance company first.  Speaking with a Lawyer is fine but keep in mind not all Lawyers but the majority of personal injury lawyers are not out for you they're out for themselves.  I can understand there reasoning cause lets face it they gotta put food on the table too.  However, I've known a ton of PI Lawyers who have told clients there claim is worth a ton of dough when in reality it is not. 

I once went with a friend of my who was going in for a free consultation just after he was hit.  He had soft tissue injuries initial ER and his Dr. refered him for Physical Therapy.  The liable Insurance company offered him 1k in pain and suffering and to pay his medical bills.  When he told the Attorney this he immediately said don't settle this claim its worth at least 30k.  Lucky for my friend I was with him and have extensive knowledge of the claims process and the personal injury Lawyer process.  When the Attorney looked away for a moment I looked at my friend and used a facial expression of pure BS.  Then  the Attorney started taking down some of the facts of the accident when he got a buzz from his secretary and said can you please excuse me for a moment.  My friend said sure and when he left his office I let my friend know this guy is total BS you don't have a 30k claim here.  My friend agreed and I said when he comes back I'll have a little fun with him. 

He comes back in with his pretty little paralegal and starts on and on how this is gonna work .

He says- I'm gonna file suit right away so we can get you your money.  99% of the time pure BS the statue of limitations on a claim in most states is 3 years and 99% of the time a Lawyer waits right up until the statue limit time to file a suit.  WHY?  1. Because the 1st thing that needs to happen is the injured person needs to complete all treatment for injuries unless this was a injured person who has been labled with permanent injuries but that a whole different ball game than soft tissue injuries.  2. A lawyer or a firm is just like any other business they have to stick to a budget and filing a suit and trying a law suit is expensive.  3.  This why an Attorney will instruct his pretty little paralegal to take over the claim essentially and get all medical records, bills, police reports, or Lost wage documentations and put together a DEMAND PACKAGE that normally takes around 2 years or more before submitted.  See fact of the matter is the Attorney you have just hired after the 1st meeting will be probably 1st of maybe 3 times you will ever talk to him about the claim.  He will tell you to contact Ms. Paralegal about the claim and she will answer all the questions.  I've been in a  Personal Injury Lawyers firm before where over half of the firms Lawyers couldn't remember who any of their clients were.  In the DEMAND PACKAGE that figure of 30k will appear as medical bills and pain/suffering. 

First of all an Insurance company never pays the 1st demand.  They will keep the demand for serveral weeks maybe even months call the Lawyer up from time to time and say Hey our medical review specialist is reviewing this.  The Attorney says OK no problem just get back to me.  Meanwhile the Attorney on the other end of the phone has no clue who this Adjuster is talking about. Finally after 2-3 months the adjuster calls up and says we'll pay the medical bills and 1500.00 pain and suffering.  The Attorney then says let me speak to my client of course he doesn't he has Ms. Paralegal call them or maybe he doesn't even bother to call them.  He waits 1-3 days calls the adjuster back and says I gotta have at least  15k on this.  This goes on for 2-3 weeks until the adjuster says 4k p/s and bills.  Lets say your bills are around 6k.  So the adjuster has offered a 10k settlement.  The Attorney then calls you in and says listen I tried to get 30k but they're not budging they've offered 10k I really do think its a good offer and if we go to trial we could get less.  Which is another BS because before it went to trial it would go to mediation.  Anyways you decide to take the offer you say hey they offered me 1k plus bills and now I'm getting 4k plus the 6k to pay for my bills.  Then the Attorney says well out of the 10k will be my fee, you're like yeah sure no problem I mean how much could it be this like the 3rd time I've ever talk to you.  Lets settle oh by the way whats the bill from you.  The Attorney answers well its 30%  (normal fee for most personal injury lawyers)  So breaking it down thats 6k for the bills, 3k for the Attorney, and you get 1k.  BITCH SLAPPED!!!!!  So basically you have paid this Attorney 3k for meeting with you 1-3 times for 30mins, making 5-6 5 min phone calls, and his Paralegal ordering copies of medical records which cost about 30-40 bucks, and picking up a police report that is normally free.  He and his paralegal probably got a total of  10 hrs in the matter  thats $300 an hr.  Now you might say well 3k is not a lot of money which its not but the Attorney doesn't have just 1 client.  You have to remember these ambulance chasers take on at least 10 clients a day and thats on a bad day thats why they asked their paralegal 10min before you come in who you are .  Because a zillion car wrecks happen every day they see so many people and have so many deals going its really understanding why they have no clue who you are..  Just imagine if they took 10 a day 50 per week and got the same settlement I gave an example of thats 150k a year.  Remember they get 30% of the settlement so a 15k          settlement is  4500.00

Anyways the fun I had with this ambulance chaser was when he came back in and started the save the world speech.  I said hold it you say this claim is worth 30k he said yes sir no problem.  I said OK have Ms. pretty paralegal sitting over there draw up a contract that states in writing this claim is worth 30k and I will get 30k for this claim and if not from the insurance company then I will pay the difference.  He said he could not do that I asked why not and he came back with some BS answer and I said when you can put that in writing call my firend and he will retain your services.

I'm not bashing personal injury lawyers here.  Just remember whatever they tell you the claim is worth go ahead and cut it half from the start.  Remember while the Attorney is suppost to be negotiating the claim your medical bills are still not being paid unless by you.  Most providers will turn the bill into collections which goes on your credit.  Also anything an Attorney  gaurantees asked him to put that in writing.