How Do Personal Injury Lawyers Get Paid?
How Do Personal Injury Lawyers Get Paid?
If you're considering hiring a personal injury attorney in Illinois to handle a claim or lawsuit, one of the first questions you're likely to ask is, "What will it cost me to pursue a personal injury case?" The answer generally depends on the lawyer and which side you're on in the case.
When a personal injury lawyer represents a plaintiff in a personal injury case, he or she normally charges a contingency fee as payment for his or her legal services. This contingency fee prevents clients from paying upfront, instead taking a certain amount of money from the settlement amount that the attorney reaches.
This payment model could differ if the client is a defendant in a personal injury case. In these instances, a personal injury attorney may charge either an hourly rate or a retainer fee to provide representation.
What Are Contingency Fee Arrangements?
Contingency fee arrangements don't require plaintiffs to pay unless an attorney settles a case. This model helps alleviate the burden on plaintiffs to pay for legal services on top of medical bills and other expenses pertaining to the case while it's pending. Additionally, this arrangement also helps ensure that attorneys work in their clients' best interests, as they won't receive payment unless they succeed in settling.
The contingency fee comes out of the client's settlement, usually accounting for around 33% of the total settlement amount.
While this arrangement is often beneficial for the client, it also means that attorneys will need to ensure a case is likely to succeed before providing representation. After all, the attorney won't receive payment unless he or she succeeds, making the stakes higher for lawyers in these cases.
How Are Hourly Rates Calculated?
It's also important to know how much personal injury lawyers charge in other types of cases. While the contingency fee is the most common form of payment for personal injury lawyers, some circumstances may warrant hourly rates instead of or in addition to contingency fee payments.
For example, defendants in personal injury cases may pay an hourly rate for defense throughout a personal injury case. Some lawyers may also charge hourly if the liable party is eager to reach a faster settlement or if the settlement amount isn't likely to be significant.
Factors that can influence the hourly rate include:
How Do Retainer Fees Work?
In other circumstances, an attorney could charge a retainer fee for services. Retainer fees would require clients to pay a lump sum that would go into a designated account prior to the attorney providing legal services. Throughout the case, the attorney would then use funds from this account to cover legal costs.
Again, this type of fee may apply to defendants in personal injury cases.
What Services Do Personal Injury Lawyers Perform?
Personal injury cases are commonplace in the U.S., including Illinois. In a recent year, 63 million people sought professional medical care for nonfatal injuries, many of which cases result from the negligence of other parties and warrant personal injury cases.
In many of these cases, it's best to hire a personal injury attorney to recover compensation. Whether you pay a contingency fee or another type of payment to an injury lawyer, the following are the kinds of services that make hiring a lawyer worthwhile in many cases:
Investigating Your Case
One of the main services you get from a personal injury attorney is a thorough investigation into your case. Insurance companies and liable parties will likely conduct investigations of their own, but an attorney by your side can help determine the facts of the case and build a case in your favor based on these facts.
In the process of investigating your case, your attorney would be able to collect critical evidence to support your case.
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For example, an attorney could obtain copies of police reports, medical records, footage of the accident scene, witness statements, and expert witness testimony. All of this evidence might otherwise be difficult or even impossible for you to obtain on your own.
A lawyer's fees will cover the costs of obtaining certain key pieces of evidence and hiring experts to support your case.
Negotiating With Insurance Companies
Your attorney will help you negotiate a claim with insurance companies. While some claims may seem straightforward and relatively easy to negotiate when they involve minor injuries and damages, insurance companies generally work to avoid making large payouts. In turn, they'll conduct an investigation into your case and look for ways to minimize or reject your claim.
During negotiations, insurers will assign an adjuster to handle your case. Even if this adjuster appears friendly and willing to help you recover total compensation, all adjusters work first and foremost for their insurance companies. They will often make low initial offers that fall below what your case is worth in hopes that you'll accept.
In rare cases, insurance companies and adjusters may even engage in bad faith tactics to reduce or deny your claim. If you're unfamiliar with the claims process, insurance companies may try to take advantage of you and make lower offers than the true value of your case. Attorneys will be aware of these tactics and work to prevent bad faith from compromising your case.
With the help of a lawyer, you can determine the actual value of your case and make counteroffers to the insurance company's initial offer, helping you recover the compensation you need.
Completing and Filing All Documents
Personal injury cases can also involve a lot of paperwork, which can be daunting, especially if you want to focus on recovering and spending time with your loved ones following an accident. Your attorney would be able to include all the necessary information to complete the various forms and file them on your behalf.
You have a time limit for your case. Every state has a personal injury statute of limitations in place that gives plaintiffs a certain number of years before their case expires. If you don't file before this statute of limitations passes, you will likely be unable to recover compensation. However, there are some exceptions to the statute when states may postpone your case's deadline, such as if you were a minor at the time of the accident.
Ultimately, your lawyer can help you organize all the paperwork and file on time to keep your case valid.
Representing You in Court
Most personal injury cases settle during the claims process after negotiations, but some may wind up going to trial. If your case goes to court, you'll want someone with trial experience to help you support your case. Representing yourself could result in doing or saying the wrong thing and severely compromising your case, but a lawyer with experience in court settings will help keep the process smooth.
Your lawyer could help you during the trial process at every stage. For example, you would need to make a compelling opening statement before the discovery process begins. Discovery will entail learning all the facts of the case and gathering as much evidence as possible to prepare your closing argument, which can make or break your case.
Some cases can also take as long as years to settle, which is why you'll need an attorney who can help shorten the process as much as possible with a strong case.
Answering Questions
During initial consultations and well into the claims or legal process, you'll have the chance to ask all types of questions, including questions around cost, such as:
A good lawyer will make sure you're never in the dark regarding what you'll pay or any other aspect of your case.
Choosing the Right Personal Injury Attorney
If you decide, "I need a personal injury lawyer," you'll need to find the best available representation to help you build your case.
To find out what options are available to you in a personal injury claim or lawsuit, contact us at Ankin Law for a free consultation with one of our experienced Chicago personal injury lawyers.