They will negotiate.
Many of these types of law firms are serving as collection agents for their clients, and negotiate just like "regular" collection agencies do. The main difference is, the law firm collectors can and do then handle suing on unpaid debts as well wihtout the original creditor having to pass the file to someone else - kind of one-stop shopping for creditors who intend to sue if the debt remains unpaid.
Many of these firms agree to be paid a percentage of what they collect, so at first they may seem insistent on getting the full amount or close to it, but once they've done their skiptracing/asset searching and determined what the actual ability to pay is, they'll usually back down and talk about lower amounts in most cases. They'd rather get paid than not.
