Sometimes, the victim of an accident hesitates to file a personal injury claim. At times, the victim’s hesitancy reflects concerns about the costs attached to hiring an Injury Lawyer in Richmond Hill.
What is the typical fee schedule for a personal injury lawyer?
Most lawyers that have chosen to specialize in personal injury cases make a point of charging their clients on a contingency basis. That means that the client’s lawyer gets paid with the client has recovered money.
The client and lawyer agree to the terms of a contract. That contract states the percentage of the settlement that will be paid to the client’s attorney. Usually, a personal injury attorney receives about 33% of the client’s settlement. Although, if the case goes to trial, that percentage might go has high as 40%.
Who pays things like the court fee, or the money for making copies of important documents?
Different lawyers have different systems for handling such fees. Some of them ask their clients to pay upfront. Others have the cost of the fees taken out of the client’s settlement money. That practice has produced a need for introduction of the term “net settlement.”
The net settlement is the amount of money that remains, after the fees have been deducted. In order to be fair to his or her clients, an attorney should take the contingency fee from the net settlement. Otherwise, the client would bear the entire cost for payment of all fees, and the attorney’s contribution to payment of those same fees would be zero.
Another issue that might arise:
If the client and the lawyer happen to be close friends, the client should make certain that the lawyer’s office gets his or her legal name. It could be that the lawyer’s close relationship with the client/plaintiff began with introduction to the client’s nickname. The attorney’s office prepares a check for the client/plaintiff, after the agreed percentage has been removed. That check should show the name that the client uses when dealing with the bank. That would be the legal name, and not the nickname.
How can clients know when the settlement check is coming?
Normally, it is the lawyer’s job to seek details from the insurance company on the expected date for the check’s release. The client should ask for that date, if the attorney has not provided that information.
If the check gets delayed, the lawyer should learn the reason for that delay. Then it becomes the lawyer’s job to share that specific information with his or her client. Clients should not be left wondering when their compensation is expected to arrive in the lawyer’s office. Their lawyers should do their best to keep that from happening.