Hire a Certified Specialist---- Because lawyers are NOT interchangeable.  Experience and specialized skills matter.       

I will be happy to talk to you over the phone, over ZOOM video conferencing, or by email.   I also have a FREE Workers' Compensation Information Package I can send you, if you want it.      

Remember, the insurance company is NOT on your side.   It is your adversary.  Heck, let's be blunt.  The insurance company, and their claims manager or adjuster, are your enemies.  They are trying to take money out of your pocket, money that you need to take care of your bills and your loved ones.    But I am on your side, and you need to know how to deal with the insurance carrier.   So call or email me now, for your free strategy session.   Simply ask for the "Free Strategy Session with Bob Bollinger."       

If you end up hiring me as your lawyer, you will get my personal attention.  Unlike some larger firms, you will not have virtually everything in your case done by a person who is NOT a lawyer.   Everyone's case is unique, and the "assembly line" approach that is used by some "settlement mill" types of big firms just, in my opinion, does not produce the best results for clients.   And my goal is to get you the best possible outcome on your case. 

You will have my personal email address, that I personally monitor and use, and you can send me your questions and concerns anytime by email.  And I will respond to it.  It may be one o'clock in the morning, but I will get back to you.    

I will be doing the legal work on your case---unlike some law firms, I do not have a big staff of paralegals to whom the lawyer work is delegated.   You will typically deal with only one paralegal in addition to me.    

I want to protect your rights and add value to your claim.  I want you to be better off for having hired me to handle your case. 

When your case is finished, I want you to feel that I did a great job.  I want to earn your "Five Star rating" here on the AVVO client reviews.    

Many people need a good lawyer for their workers' comp cases, because the insurance company does not have the workers' best interests at heart.   The NC Court of Appeals has stated that: "In contested Workers' Compensation cases today, access to competent legal counsel is a virtual necessity.....  Leaving injured employees without the representation they need to obtain the complete and total amount of their workers' compensation award would defeat the purposes of the [Workers' Compensation] Act.  In fact, employers would be encouraged to contest liability and meanwhile make voluntary payments less than that required by the Workers' Compensation Act."  Church v. Baxter Travenol, 104 N.C. App. 411, 416 (1991) (bold emphasis added).

I have been a Board Certified Specialist in NC Workers' Compensation Law since 2000, and was in the first class of lawyers to be certified.    I have practiced workers' compensation law since 1991.   A Board Certified Specialist has been tested and vetted by the NC State Bar in order to assure the public that the lawyer has a high level of competence in the specialty area of law.  As the Court of Appeals said in Church, an injured employee needs a "competent" attorney on a workers' compensation case.  An injured worker can be assured that a Certified Specialist in Workers' Compensation Law is indeed competent to handle the case properly.

 I grew up in Newton, North Carolina, which was primarily a furniture and textiles town at the time.   I enjoy handling workers' compensation cases for injured workers, partly because I worked in "blue collar" jobs as a young man.  I worked in retail stores, in a furniture factory (tailing the rip saws), in a foam rubber factory (on the "Baumer slitter" cutting carpet cushion) and for a plant nursery and landscaping business.  I also taught tennis lessons in Hickory.  I understand hard, physical work, and I have seen with my own eyes how employees are sometimes mistreated by management.  That mistreatment has always made me angry.   Now, as a workers' compensation specialist lawyer, I have the skills and credentials to do something about it for my clients.  I can level that playing field for the working man or woman.   And I love doing that for my clients!       

Workers' Compensation is a complex and complicated area of the law.  I give injured workers a strong and aggressive voice against the rich and powerful insurance company.   That insurance carrier has entire law firms at its disposal to use against injured workers.   The insurance company just wants to make money--it does not care about you or your family.  There is nothing I enjoy more than taking on the big insurance company and winning a good award, or negotiating a good settlement, for a client who has been injured at work and still has children to feed and bills to pay.  My goal as a lawyer is always to protect your rights and to add value to your claim.  At the end of the case, I always want to leave you better off for having hired me to help you.  And with a little luck, I will leave you a lot better off!   

Without a good lawyer, an injured worker is at the mercy of the insurance company and its lawyers.   Look at the web sites of the insurance defense law firms here in NC-- such as the "Cranfill Sumner,"   "Hedrick Gardner" and "McAngus Goudelock" firms.  They have dozens of lawyers in their workers' compensation defense sections who only represent insurance carriers and employers.   Who is going to be your legal advocate?   I enjoy being an attorney for the hard-working people of North Carolina who need my help.   So get in touch with me!  If you need me, I would like to help. 

As I mentioned earlier, I am certified by the NC State Bar as a "Specialist" in Workers' Compensation Law.  Unlike some lawyers, I do not dabble in workers' comp law; it is the main area in which I work.  Those lawyers who lack my experience charge you the same fee percentage that I do.  Why would you hire someone less skilled and less experienced if the fee percentage you pay is the same?  

In addition to my Specialist certification, I have also earned the respect of the defense lawyers that I go up against.   My peers have rated me highly.  I have been listed as "AV Preeminent" (Top 5% of rated lawyers in the nation) in Martindale Hubbell every year since 2005.   I have also been selected as a North Carolina "Superlawyer" every year since 2007.  And I have been named in the "Best Lawyers in America" every year since 2008.  Best Lawyers named me the "Lawyer of the Year" for 2017 in the area of "Workers' Compensation Claimants' Lawyers" for the Charlotte area. 

In 2015 I was inducted as a "Fellow" into a national workers' comp lawyer honorary organization, the College of Workers' Compensation Lawyers.  Only fifteen (15) NC lawyers who represent injured workers have been inducted into that College, and of those, only two of us are from Charlotte.   My peers in the Plaintiffs' bar, who also represent injured workers, elected me to be the Chairman of the Workers' Compensation Section of the NC Advocates for Justice, our statewide lawyer group, for the fiscal year of 2009-10.   All these peer endorsements mean that I know what I am doing.   Fortunately, I can use that knowledge to help you get what you need from your workers' comp claim.       

If you have a question about your North Carolina workers' compensation claim, then get in touch with me.  Consultations are always free and I will answer your questions in person, on the phone or by email.   There is no obligation on your part.  I am happy to answer questions because I know that if you need a good lawyer to represent you, then you will likely let me have that job.  So don't hesitate to get in touch with me for a free discussion and legal advice about your workers' compensation case!