What Is a Contingency Fee?
A contingency fee means that the attorney’s legal fees are contingent upon winning your case and securing compensation through a settlement or verdict. The main benefit of this arraignment is that the client doesn’t pay anything upfront. Plus, a contingency fee motivates your lawyer to win.
To learn more about contingency fees and what it’s like working with an experienced lawyer, call Hecht, Kleeger & Damashek, P.C. Our NYC injury law team offers free initial consultations with a personal injury lawyer. We’ll explain your options and work to get all the compensation you deserve – and you pay nothing until you do.
Call HKD today at (212) 490-5700 or contact us online to schedule a meeting with our no-win no fee lawyers.
Contingency Fees vs. Retainers & Paying Upfront
There are multiple ways to pay for legal services. Some attorneys take no payment upfront, while others want fees in advance. While paying a retainer is rare in personal injury cases, before hiring a lawyer, you should ask them how they are paid and when you will owe them money.
Contingency Fee Lawyers
Most personal injury lawyers work on a contingency fee basis. That means that you give them no payment unless you win. The attorney will pay for all upfront legal costs and will not charge you until you get a settlement or verdict in your favor.
Most contingency fee lawyers take a percentage of what you win in your settlement or verdict to cover their fees and costs. This allows you to work with an attorney without paying for legal assistance upfront.
Paying a Retainer
Other attorneys, including family and criminal defense attorneys, typically charge a retainer (deposit) upfront. They then charge an hourly rate against that retainer. When the retainer depletes, you must pay an additional amount. Rates for attorneys are often several hundred dollars per hour.
Flat Rate Fees
Other attorneys may offer flat rates for certain cases. For example, if you want someone to handle your traffic ticket or DUI, they might charge a few thousand dollars to take the case from start to finish. Flat rates are convenient but offer little flexibility if you need ongoing assistance. If the case goes to trial, you may be without an attorney.
Most Personal Injury Cases Work on Contingency
Most personal injury cases are accepted on a contingency basis. This benefits both the attorneys and the plaintiff.
Few people have the resources to pay for a lawyer after a sudden car crash or injury. A contingency fee basis allows someone who was wrongfully harmed access to legal assistance when they may not have the money to pay upfront.
Hecht, Kleeger & Damashek, P.C. genuinely cares about clients who have suffered losses due to someone else’s wrongful actions. We know you have enough financial stress. We work with you on a contingency fee basis because we want to begin helping you right away.
How Contingency Fees Works
You won’t be charged a standard hourly rate when you work with an attorney who charges a contingency fee. Instead, the attorney is only paid for a successful outcome and pays the court costs, fees, expert witness charges, and other expenses associated with presenting your case. You will then repay the attorney an agreed-upon percentage of your settlement or jury verdict to cover their fee and reimburse the firm for the expenses related to your case.
Your attorney should provide an itemized list of their expenses, and all legal fees should be discussed in advance. Remember to ask your attorney what you will pay before hiring them.
Benefits of a Contingency Fee – The Client Advantage
There are many client benefits to using legal services on a contingency fee basis. Those benefits start from day one – when you meet your attorney – and continue through the end of your case.
Contingency Fees Remove the Client’s Risk
When you engage in the legal process after an injury, the plaintiff and defendant both assume some risk. If you are working with an attorney on a contingency basis, you will not lose money if things do not work out. No win, no fee lawyers do not get any money if you do not win.
Lawyers Are Compelled to Work Hard
When a lawyer is only getting paid if they win, they will work hard to achieve success. Winning your case is about more than reputation. The attorney must win to cover the costs they have invested in the case and to compensate them for their time. Having such a fierce advocate on your side will only benefit you.
Contingency Fee FAQs – What to Know About Legal Fees?
You likely have many questions about legal fees, especially if you are unfamiliar with the legal process after a serious injury. Hecht, Kleeger & Damashek, P.C. has the answers.
1. Why Does the Insurance Company Tell Me Not to Get a Lawyer?
The insurance company and other parties do not want you to get a lawyer because they know you will recover more compensation. Statistics have shown that when accident victims work with attorneys, they get significantly more.
These large, profit-driven companies attempt to dissuade victims from working with a lawyer by claiming a lawyer’s percentage reduces their potential recovery. But, the portion is taken by a lawyer who gets you more overall and typically ends with you walking away with considerably more.
2. Why Should I Hire an Attorney If They Take Money Out of My Recovery?
While a contingency fee attorney will take a percentage of your recovery, you will also get substantially higher compensation by working with a lawyer. In the end, you will likely get more money by investing in knowledgeable legal services than you will on your own.
3. How Can I Make Sure My Attorney Takes the Right Amount?
You can ask your attorney to account for your case at any point. This should list all the costs they advanced on your behalf. They can also provide you with a list of hours spent on your case by the attorney, paralegals, and other staff members. In a traditional hourly rate structure, you would have to pay for those people to work on your case. With a contingency arrangement, you pay a percentage of your recovery instead.
How HKD Maximizes Value
Hecht, Kleeger & Damashek, P.C. maximizes the value of every case. Our attorneys do this by determining the actual value of your claim in a way that the insurance company would deny if you presented it to them. We will assess the full impact of your future medical bills, lost income, loss of earning potential, and total pain and suffering. If you did not invest in a lawyer, you might not recover those losses.
Insurance Companies Try to Take Advantage
Insurance companies will do everything possible to delay and deny valid personal injury claims. They will try to pay you as little as possible by suggesting you share the blame for the accident, diminishing the cost of your care, and suggesting your injuries are not worth as much as you think.
However, working with an experienced lawyer who knows the law and how to present evidence of your damages makes them more likely to take your case seriously.
Start with a Free Consultation
Hecht, Kleeger & Damashek, P.C. offers free, no-obligation consultations so you can understand our process and determine if we are the right lawyer for you. We’ll verify that you have a case. Not every claim is viable, and you must file within the statute of limitations. We can help you assess your case.
We can discuss the strength of your claim, the timeframe your case will have, everything we need from you, and the damages available to you. Depending on your circumstances, you could pursue compensation for your medical bills, damages, or even the pain and suffering your injuries caused you.
To ensure effective representation, you’ll need to provide as much information about your incident as possible. You should bring medical bills or records, payment stubs, incident reports, evidence of the accident, related insurance documents, witness information, and anything else that can show how the damage happened and how much damage you experienced.
You should be prepared to answer questions about what happened, who was present, and how you wish to proceed.
Tell Us What Happened
"*" indicates required fields
