If you need a personal injury lawyer, that probably means you are suing some company or person who harmed you. You can usually find one of these lawyers by asking any family members or friends for a recommendation. If they don’t know any personal injury law firms or lawyers, you can Google something like “the best personal injury lawyers near me” and see what kind of results you get.
You can research different lawyers and see which ones in your area have the best reputation. Then, you can meet with some of them and describe what happened. They will tell you whether they think you have a case and if they’re willing to represent you.
If they are, then you must talk about how you will pay them. Personal injury lawyers accept payment in a few different ways. We will talk about the most common ones right now.
Payment Through Contingency
Lawyers you pay on contingency usually get 25-40% of your winnings if you win your case. Contingency means that you typically pay nothing upfront when you hire the attorney. Instead, you pay them only if and when they win your case for you.
This method usually makes the most sense. Personal injury lawyers put it in place because this way, they must win your case, and they won’t scare away possible clients by demanding money upfront.
Many times, someone who needs a personal injury lawyer has financial problems. Maybe they’ve paid thousands in medical bills, and they can’t work at their usual job either. The entity that harmed them has put them in a very tough financial position. That’s why they feel they must sue.
You won’t always hire a personal injury lawyer when you’re in this situation, but these attorneys and law firms realize that hiring them becomes much more palatable if they say they will charge no money unless they can win the case for this client. If they wanted money upfront, a potential client might walk away and go with a law firm that has a pay structure they like more.
An Hourly Fee
happens in many other law niches. It’s a little more unusual with personal injury law, though.
We’ve just explained why you don’t see it as much. If a law firm or a lawyer wants an hourly rate, and they’re doing personal injury law, that means they expect that their client will pay them, regardless of whether the law firm or lawyer can win their case.
Think of it from the potential client’s viewpoint. Why would they hire a personal injury lawyer that they must pay regardless, even if that lawyer loses their case?
That makes little sense when you can usually find a personal injury lawyer that you will pay on contingency. If you can find a law firm with a contingency-based payment setup, you will almost always go with that one.
A Flat Rate
You might also sometimes find a personal injury lawyer or law firm that wants a flat rate if they win your case. They want a particular amount of money rather than getting 25-40% if they win.
You might prefer a contingency-based payment setup, but this option may also work if you can’t find a lawyer who offers that. Much like a contingency payment setup, if they want a flat rate, you pay them nothing unless they win your case for you. Again, they must win your case and get money for you before you pay them anything.
Which System Works the Best?
As for which system works the best out of these three, you can almost always say that you should avoid a payment setup where you pay the lawyer by the hour. That setup might make sense if the police say you committed a crime and you need a good defense attorney. It can make sense if you need a lawyer’s help with your will or your yearly income taxes.
It doesn’t make sense for personal injury law because your lawyer might lose your case, so you get no money, but then you must also pay them. You can end up with less cash than you had before the trial started. That’s potentially disastrous, so you should avoid any personal injury lawyer who demands that you pay using this setup.
As for the other two options, paying a set rate can potentially work, but it may sound more or less attractive if your lawyer wins you more or less money. For instance, say that your lawyer gets a $5,000 settlement offer from the defendant. You decide you’ll take it.
If you have a $3,000 set rate that you agreed you’d pay the lawyer, you’re giving them 60% of your winnings. If you had a setup where you said you’d give them 30% of your winnings instead, you’d pay them only $1,500 and keep more of that settlement for yourself.
That’s why most individuals who need personal injury lawyers agree that they want a contingency fee setup when they hire a lawyer or law firm. That’s the most attractive option, more times than not. Personal injury law firms usually understand that.
They will want no money down, and you pay nothing unless they win your case for you. This way, they won’t stick you with a huge fee whether they win or lose. You also won’t worry you’re paying them more than you should if they can’t get as much money as you anticipated and you said you’d pay them a set amount.
However, every individual who needs a personal injury lawyer can make their own decision. If, for some reason, you want one of the other two payment structures, you can probably find a lawyer who will agree to that if you look around. You’ll find many personal injury lawyers since so many get into this particular niche.