When you hire an Everett personal injury lawyer, you usually will not end up paying them for their services outright or by the hour. Instead, we usually charge a contingency fee when we take on personal injury claims. There are some good reasons for this, and the complete terms of the agreement can be spelled out to you when you meet with our legal team.
When Do I Have to Pay a Contingency Fee?
A contingency fee gets paid when a certain event happens. In the field of personal injury law, this means that this fee only gets paid when a lawyer helps you win your case. Your lawyer does not receive payment while they work on your case, but they get a large windfall once they have successfully won you the compensation that you deserve. Seems like a fair arrangement to us.
How is a Contingency Fee Calculated?
Exactly how much you pay as a contingency fee can vary, but it should be laid out for you as soon as you hire a lawyer. Normally, a contingency fee ends up being a percentage of your total winnings. So if your lawyer charges a 25% fee and you win $20,000, they get to keep $5,000.
The same lawyer can charge different fees for different cases though. Sometimes it makes sense to charge a larger percentage for a more complex case or one that may be significantly harder to win. Sometimes the percentage taken out of your settlement can vary based on how much you win. For example, a lawyer may say that they will take 40% of the first $15,000 that you win and then 20% of the rest.
It’s a good idea to pay attention to how much your attorney will charge on contingency. This can make it easier to figure out approximately how much money you will be walking away with.
Why Use This Kind of Fee Arrangement?
This kind of arrangement is beneficial because sometimes accident victims do not have the resources to pay for legal help outright. Many people do not have extra money to hire a lawyer on a good day. Someone hurt in a car accident or slip and fall has medical bills to worry about, and they probably missed work and lost wages while they were recovering.
Not being able to pay for a lawyer should not disqualify you from seeking compensation though. So a contingency fee that only gets paid to your lawyer when you win is a fair arrangement. Your lawyer gets paid for their hard work, but you don’t have to make a big investment upfront and worry about losing it if the case doesn’t go your way.
Schedule Your Consultation
If you are ready to pursue a personal injury case, contact Amy C Brown Law, PLLC. We can schedule a consultation and tell you more about what our attorneys can do for you. We are ready to earn that contingency fee by helping you fight for the compensation that you deserve.
