auto accident injury settlement claim??

[john52]

What is the name of your state? new york i was involved in a auto accident aug 30th 2003. in which i was stopped waiting to turn left when i was rearended at 55 mph which totalled my jeep, anyways their insurance settled on my vehicle.. I live in ny state where we have no fault insurance which my insurance has paid for all my past and future medical bills..i missed 5 months of work but my wages were paid by my employer so my insurance company did not have to pay for my loss of wages.as a result from my accident i had 2 herniated disks and severe neck sprain and have had chronic pain in my neck since..I attained a lawyer to handle my claim in oct 2003, in november of 2004 my lawyer said my claim should be settled very soon he said the adjuster had all the medical records from all the doctors i had seen since the accident, that he would send them to their doctor for an evaluation and should have an offer in about a month then around december 12,2004 my lawyer took off across the country i've been unable to contact him since.. so frustrated i contacted the claims adjuster of the person that hit me and told him about my lawyer he said no problem we could settle my claim without the my lawyer but he needed me to send my lawyer a certified letter saying i no longer wanted to attain his legal service in my claim and to cc the adjuster.. I talked to the adjuster today he said he would have an offer to me by next week..I know the demand my lawyer was asking to the adjuster for my claim, but since i have no lawyer now, will the adjuster offer me a lot less because of this?? if so how would i go about negotiating a higher settlement without attaining another lawyer or threaten to sue their client.. thanks