When you have suffered a personal injury in an accident, your financial picture can become murky very quickly. You may not receive paid sick leave from work, or your injuries may be so severe that you run out of that leave. You cannot claim disability benefits for a personal injury, so no money may come into your account when you need it the most.
At the same time, you may face hefty medical bills. Even with health insurance, your cost share for doctor’s office visits and prescriptions can be high.
Someone else may be liable to pay for these costs, but you must go through a legal process. You may believe you are in a predicament where you need to spend money on an attorney to recoup the money you lost and do not currently have.
The good news is that finances should never be a worry when you hire a personal injury lawyer. You do not need to come up with your own money to have a personal injury attorney working on your side because they get paid a percentage of your settlement or jury award.
Thus, there is no reason why you should not hire a personal injury lawyer for your case. You will end up far better off financially, on average, when you hire an attorney than if you tried to file the claim on your own. This fact holds even after you pay your personal injury attorney a percentage of the proceeds of your case.
The Personal Injury System Makes Representation Affordable
The personal injury system encourages you to get legal help when you need it after an accident.
Representation from a personal injury lawyer is not available exclusively for the rich, and the contingency law system will bring an attorney within your range of affordability because it does not make you pay them from your pocket at any point in the case.
Additionally, it aligns the attorney's interests with yours - they only get paid if they succeed in securing a settlement or winning your case at trial. This agreement reinforces their dedication to fighting for your best interests.
You Do Not Need to Pay Money to Consult a Lawyer
Your dealings with a personal injury lawyer will begin when you schedule a free initial consultation. All personal injury attorneys offer free consultations, where they will learn about your case and discuss it with you.
The attorney speaks to you for free because they want to sign you up as a client. Their income depends on how much client work they get and whether they are successful.
A Personal Injury Lawyer Will Evaluate Your Case
An attorney will closely review your case before they agree to accept it. They know that they have a limited amount of time in their workday, and they want to take cases that will result in them getting paid for their services.
If the personal injury lawyer spends much time on your case and you do not win, they will leave empty-handed. This result will harm them financially, and they want to avoid it. If a lawyer reviews a case and is uncertain of the chances of success, do not be surprised if they will not take it.
Conversely, if a personal injury lawyer accepts your case, they have a degree of confidence that you will receive money in some form or fashion.
You Do Not Need to Pay a Retainer to Hire a Personal Injury Lawyer
If you hire a family law or criminal defense attorney, they will ask you to pay them a retainer upfront against the time they spend on your case. They do not want to take a chance that they will not get paid for their work.
However, when you hire a personal injury attorney, you will not have to pay them upfront. They continuously take chances on cases, knowing they may not get compensated for their time and effort.
In addition, a personal injury attorney does not send you bills for their time progressively as your case unfolds, as other types of attorneys may. All of the work that they do is without payment as it occurs. You already have enough financial worries when you have suffered an injury without having to figure out how you will pay your attorney before you receive any money yourself.
You Only Pay Your Personal Injury Lawyer if You Win Your Case
When you hire an attorney, you will agree to the terms of their representation. Each attorney will charge you a contingency fee if and when you win your case. This fee is not a set amount but a percentage of the money you will receive.
You must pay your lawyer if you win your case. Winning does not only mean taking your case to court, where a jury rules in your favor. Of course, that is a part of it, but a victory also means settling your personal injury claim and receiving a check. In fact, that is a far more common outcome in a personal injury case because very few cases will ever go all the way to a jury trial.
You Will Pay a Personal Injury Lawyer a Percentage of Your Proceeds
The representation agreement will specify the percentage you must pay your attorney when your case settles. The contingency fee for a settlement averages roughly one-third of the proceeds of your case, although personal injury attorneys may vary in what they charge you.
Do not assume that the lawyer who charges you the lowest percentage is always the best for your case. You should also pay attention to the attorney’s experience and how they may handle your case before you make any decisions about who represents you.
The agreement will specify a higher percentage if your case goes to trial. This payment recognizes that an attorney will spend much extra time preparing for a jury trial, and they have no assurance that they will win. Your personal injury attorney must take your case to trial if they cannot reach an adequate settlement agreement on your behalf.
The Contingency Fee Must Be Reasonable
A personal injury lawyer cannot specify just any percentage they want as a contingency fee. Each attorney must follow rules of professional conduct to maintain their license to practice law, and these rules state that the cost the attorney charges must be reasonable.
Industry customs have determined a contingency fee, but an attorney can charge more or less than the industry norm, depending on state or federal laws.
In addition to the contingency fee, your case may have other expenses, such as court filing fees, expert witness fees, and medical record retrieval fees. These costs typically get paid out of the settlement or judgment you receive, and your lawyer will generally advance them on your behalf.
How Does Your Lawyer Get Paid Once You Receive Money?
If you win your case, the money from a settlement or a jury award will go into the lawyer’s escrow account. They will ensure that anyone with a lien or claim against your proceeds gets paid first.
For example, you may have an obligation to pay a health insurance company or a provider. After paying them, the attorney also gets payment from your proceeds before you receive your money. They will deduct their fee from the amount before you receive your compensation.
An attorney receives the percentage specified in the representation agreement no matter how long your case takes to settle. If your case takes years to resolve, but you do not go to trial, the attorney will still get the same amount they would have received had your case settled immediately.
The representation agreement controls how your personal injury lawyer gets paid, no matter how your case unfolds.
You Pay Nothing if You Do Not Win Your Case
You may wonder what happens if you do not win your case. You may fear getting hit with a hefty bill for your attorney’s time when you did not receive a settlement agreement or jury award.
Fortunately, you can put that worry aside because your attorney does not send you a bill for their services after your case if you do not win. Thus, you are not taking a financial risk when you hire a personal injury lawyer. The real gamble comes when you deal with the insurance company on your own and trust them to do the right thing.
You Should Hire a Personal Injury Lawyer Immediately
Since a personal injury lawyer gets paid the same no matter what happens, hiring them at the very outset of your case makes sense. You will not save money by handling details on your own at first and then bringing in an attorney if things seem difficult. Doing that will hurt your claim and legal picture because the insurance company will gain the upper hand over you.
Thus, have a personal injury lawyer on your side at the first possible opportunity because there is much they can do in the early stages of your case to help you. Although there is always time to hire a personal injury lawyer, there may be a point when an attorney does not accept your case because they cannot gather evidence or your picture with the insurance company is already clouded.
The Lawyer Can Only Charge Fees That Follow the Representation Agreement
For everything and anything a lawyer proposes to charge, they must follow the exact details in the representation agreement when you initially hired them. This agreement has the same status as any other contract and should have precise language.
A section in the representation agreement addresses the contingency nature of your personal injury lawyer’s work for you. The agreement may also address other potential fees, such as court costs and expert witnesses, and how the attorney will handle them.
A personal injury attorney cannot add other fees not explicitly stated in the representation agreement and cannot amend it after you sign. Thus, you will have a high degree of certainty when you hire a personal injury lawyer for your case. You know exactly how much the representation costs and that you will not need to pay out of your own pocket for an attorney.
Now Is the Time to Hire a Personal Injury Lawyer
If you still need a personal injury lawyer for your case, now is the time to hire one. The more time passes, the harder it may be to recover any money in your case due to weakened evidence and strict deadlines. You should allow an attorney to begin building your case right away, even if you are not ready to file a claim or lawsuit just yet.
If you cannot contact a personal injury lawyer and handle the details on your own, have a trusted family member make the call for you. Time is of the essence in a personal injury case.
Without a lawyer, insurance companies may try to take advantage of you at every possible turn. They may pressure you to speak with them to entrap you into saying something that will undercut your case. The presence of your lawyer means that the insurance company must only communicate with them.
Remember, personal injury lawyers understand the financial burden that can come with medical bills, lost income, and other expenses that relate to your injury. They are here to help you navigate the legal process and fight for the compensation you deserve. If you have any concerns about the cost of hiring a personal injury lawyer, do not hesitate to discuss them during your initial consultation.
Working with a personal injury lawyer on a contingency fee basis allows you to seek justice without the added stress of upfront legal fees. Do not let worries about costs prevent you from pursuing the compensation you deserve. Reach out to a personal injury lawyer today to discuss your case and find out how they can help you.
Thomas Waffenschmidt
Attorney
Thomas Waffenschmidt has served on the Pennsylvania Association for Justice since 1990 and has been a board member from 1999 through 2014. He has also served on the board of the Lycoming Law Association since 2008 and served as president in 2014.
Author's Bio