California- Hit By An Suv As A Pedestrian

I was hit by a vehicle and have gone through 3.5 months of pain and daily physical daily therapy at home.

Essentially, a person made a left turn as I was on the crosswalk and hit me so hard she send me onto the hood of her SUV. She claimed I jumped on her hood as she drove at 5mph but plenty of witnesses saw what happened and I got a statement corroborating my version and the police found her at fault.

Over the next month my doctors identified: - a bone bruise on my hip - mental fog which led to a PTSD diagnosis - a wrist injury where fluid leaked out due to the impact

I could barely stand for the first month after the impact and sleep was severely impacted as I'd wake up every couple of hours with a shooting pain in my hip. My doctor put me on a muscle relaxer and high-dose ibuprofen to function during the day and sleep at night and I've been taking them since the second week after I was hit, so about 3 months.

The insurance rep for the driver was pushy when he initially called and gave a hypothetical "Let's say we offer you $2k for pain and suffering" which seemed insane to me considering how much this has derailed my life. I politely told him "thanks but no thanks" and he seemed offended and said he wasn't making an offer just stating a hypothetical. He also misled me about me having to settle before insurance would pay for my medical bills. Needless to say, I don't trust him and I'm glad to be in a position where I can pay for my insurance copayments until I make a full recovery.

I recently spoke with a few local attorneys/paralegals about my case and their language made it clear they were bummed out that I didn't get scraped off the road. More than one cited cases with broken backs and bones was what they were "interested in" which was wild to hear.

One attorney, who seemed like a genuinely nice person, said I should handle it myself as she didn't want me to pay a large portion of my settlement to her.

My questions:

1) When I'm ready to settle, should I hire an attorney or just try and negotiate myself and why?

2) Any idea what the compensation range is reasonable for my case?