Many people let the fear of high legal fees keep them from pursuing litigation after they are in a car accident. Do not let that stop you. Many attorneys across the country are willing to work with car crash victims who have legitimate injuries but cannot pay for an attorney.

You may have heard the phrase “we don’t get paid unless you do”—well, that is the typical fee structure that most attorneys and clients agree to before the car accident lawyer begins to work on an accident case. The formal name for an agreement like this is a contingency fee agreement. Continue reading to learn more about contingency fees.

What Should I Consider Before Hiring an Accident Attorney?

There are some overarching questions that you should answer for yourself before you hire an attorney. Your attorney should make you feel comfortable moving forward with your case during your initial consultation.

Ask these questions before deciding which attorney is best for you:

• What is the typical fee structure that my attorney uses for injury cases?
• What legal market am I in, and can I afford to pay my attorney a retainer or hourly?
• What court costs can I anticipate?
• What experience does my lawyer have in personal injury and accident cases?

What Is a Contingency Fee?

A contingency fee is a type of fee payment agreement that many injury attorneys make with potential clients to stave off the worry of high legal costs and make accident victims more comfortable with pursuing justice. In a contingency fee agreement, your lawyer agrees that you will not pay any legal fees unless there is some financial recovery at the end of the case. Contingency fee agreements should always have specific provisions to which the lawyer and client have agreed.

What Should a Contingency Fee Agreement Include?

You and your attorney should agree to every provision of payment, and the agreement should be in writing in the contingency fee agreement. A significant provision in a contingency fee agreement that both parties must sign entails litigation costs.

Litigation costs are the fees paid throughout the life of a lawsuit that must be paid for the litigation to proceed.

Examples of litigation costs include:

• Filing fees
• Expert witness fees
• Fees for deposition transcripts
• Mediation costs
• Costs of copies and making exhibits for trial
• Postage and mailing
• Medical records
• Police reports
• Process servers

The above are only examples of litigation expenses. It may not be necessary for all this work to be done in your case but remember that the circumstances of your case may require much more work, and there may be even more litigation costs.

Typically, you and your attorney will agree on when you will pay litigation expenses. Before entering into a contingency fee agreement, you and your lawyer will discuss the payment timeline, usually during the initial consultation. Be sure that you are clear about your responsibilities requiring payment of fees for litigation expenses.

A Contingency Fee Should Include the Amount of Payment That the Lawyer Will Receive

Using a contingency fee structure allows people that have been hurt in an accident, on the job, or through some other form of negligence to have a voice during a settlement negotiation or in court, even if they do not have many financial resources. It is vital that before entering into a contingency agreement, you and your lawyer agree to a percentage that your lawyer will receive as payment for their services.

You and your lawyer will agree to an amount before your lawyer begins working on your case. Typically, your injury lawyer will take 33 percent of the settlement amount as a fee. However, you may agree to a different amount. Despite the percentage you agree to, the fee must be in writing and signed by you and your lawyer.

The American Bar Association publishes Rules of Professional Conduct that govern the use of contingency fees. The Rules of Professional Conduct require that every provision of your agreement is in writing and that the client and the lawyer sign the written agreement. You should always ask for a copy of your agreement and be upfront about any questions about the agreement and seek clarification if necessary.

What if My Case Goes to Trial?

Your original contract may state that the only fees that the lawyer will collect include the percentage that was agreed upon before work begins. However, it is expensive to take a case to trial. Therefore, it is likely that your contract will contain a clause about how both parties will handle expenses if your case goes to trial. If you have any questions about your contract, speak to your attorney before signing any agreement.

Examples of the expenses you may incur if you go to trial that you will not have if the case settles include:

• Expert witnesses. You and your attorney may have to hire expert witnesses to help prove your case at trial. In some cases, you must have experts speak about your condition. Often, particularly medical experts can speak about how your injuries have affected your life and how your life is different now because of your injuries if they reviewed your previous medical records. They can connect your injuries to the car accident, which is very important because, without causation, you will lose your case. Expert witnesses cost money. They are usually active in their respective fields and will have to take time away from work to speak to a jury on your behalf. They will collect compensation for that.
• Deposition transcripts. Although the witness undergoing a deposition is not in a courtroom and there is no jury present at the time of their testimony, the witness is testifying under oath. Often, a lawyer will want to use the witness’s sworn testimony at trial. To use the witness’ testimony at trial, your lawyer will need a copy of the deposition transcript or the video if filming took place during the deposition. The court reporter company that types the transcript and films the video charges a fee to send those items to your lawyer’s office.
• Copies of exhibits and discovery materials to publish for the jury. Your lawyer may use these visual aids to help prove your case to the jury during trial.
• Travel expenses of witnesses. Sometimes key witnesses are not local but are still required to be at trial. You may want to have them present to testify. However, with the advancement of technology today, it is more likely that witnesses that live far away will testify remotely.

As stated earlier, litigation has various types of expenses. You must understand what expenses you may incur during the lawsuit. The above list is just a set of examples of litigation expenses, and you may have these expenses or may incur others. You can choose to have the cost of these expenses taken out of the settlement and repaid to your attorney once the case reaches a settlement, or you may choose to front the costs yourself if you can.

What Happens if My Case Settled Before Trial?

Depending on the facts in dispute in your case, you may have a reasonable settlement offer to end the lawsuit before your case goes to trial. In that case, you will receive a settlement check, usually from the at-fault party’s insurance company.

More likely than not, the insurance company will make out the settlement check to your lawyer’s firm and you. They usually mail settlement checks or otherwise deliver them to your lawyer’s office. Your lawyer will then deposit the check into their firm’s trust account, and once the check clears, your lawyer’s office will cut a settlement check made out to you. The check amount will include the percentage of the settlement you owe minus any outstanding expenses for your attorney’s office to collect

Are There Any Other Payment Options?

If the contingency fee agreement does not apply to your case, there are other ways to pay your attorney. The following are not common in car accident cases but are available for other legal matters. Be sure to understand the fee structure before committing to a payment structure with your attorney.

Other payment structures (which few car accident lawyers ever use) include:

Hourly Rate

Paying by the hour is one fee structure that certain attorneys and their clients agree to before the attorney begins any legal work. Hourly fee structures are not common in car accident cases, but if you and your injury attorney agree for the attorney to collect payment by the hour, this fee structure is a viable option.

In hourly cases, an attorney may require the client to pay a retainer fee at the outset of the attorney-client relationship. The local legal market may determine the retainer that your attorney requires and the amount charged by the hour. For example, you may pay a much higher amount in a retainer agreement and hourly rate in a city like Chicago than in a smaller, more rural market.

The advantage of paying your attorney by the hour is that your attorney will not receive any amount of the settlement proceeds if you collect a settlement. However, if you cannot pay for a lawyer by the hour, you may want to consider a contingency fee agreement or another fee structure.

Flat Fee Agreement

A flat fee is a one-time payment the client pays the lawyer for specific legal work. Flat fee agreements typically are used in cases that will likely resolve quickly. For example, in some markets, criminal defense lawyers will use flat fee agreements to represent clients in traffic offense cases or other misdemeanor cases.

A flat fee agreement means you will only owe your attorney the agreed flat fee. However, it is unlikely that an attorney will agree to a flat fee payment structure depending on your injuries. If you are very hurt, it may be more advantageous for a personal injury attorney to wait for a settlement to be paid instead of agreeing to a small payment upfront and then committing to a substantial amount of work.

Retainer Plus Contingency

Retainer plus contingency is a hybrid fee structure that requires the client to pay a retainer before the lawyer begins working on their case and a percentage of their settlement if one is collected. In this model, the retainer that the client is responsible for is smaller than a typical retainer agreement.

The advantage of a retainer plus contingency agreement is that the attorney will usually collect a smaller amount of the final settlement. Speak to your attorney for a clear understanding of the payment agreement before you enter into it.

Is Hiring an Attorney Worth It?

If you suffered an injury in a car crash, take advantage of the many benefits of hiring an attorney. The biggest hurdle that accident victims face after an accident is knowing how to get the compensation they deserve. An experienced attorney has the skills to help you understand and protect your rights after an accident. An injury lawyer can help you get the best recovery available.

Accident victims tend to get better recovery when counsel represents them. If you choose to pursue your case without a lawyer, you are vulnerable to savvy insurance companies and lawyers. Having the assistance of counsel helps accident victims understand how to navigate the process of collecting the maximum benefit for their injuries.

If you have suffered an injury in an accident, you must have the best advocate for yourself on your team. Most accident victims that have experienced injury lawyers working on their behalf have better results. Whether you decide to hire an attorney or not, it is crucial to educate yourself on the costs and benefits of hiring an attorney and challenging an attorney on your own. Remember, you do not have to go against a big insurance company alone. If a car crash hurts you, call a car accident attorney as soon as possible.