Clients should not negotiate their own settlement for two reasons. One is whether or not they are familiar with the law, the legal ramifications of certain decisions that they make. Oftentimes, people make decisions according to what they think is fair. But what’s fair may not play into issues that people have not thought of.

The other concern, which sometimes I think is even greater, is the objectivity of the negotiations. Namely, somebody who is negotiating on their own behalf on something that’s very emotional and personal to them may not be able to get the kind of negotiation or result that they otherwise would had they had an advisor even working in the background with them. Helping them and pointing out different things and issues that need to be addressed in the negotiation process.