In the United States, there are 56,494 personal injury attorney businesses.

If you’re looking to hire one for your case, you may be wondering if it’s worth it based on the attorney prices and fees.

Thankfully, you may realize that hiring a personal injury attorney can be cheaper than you thought it would be! Keep reading to find out how much the attorney fees can be.

Average Cost

When you talk with a lawyer, your “cost” of hiring them doesn’t mean the fees that you will have to pay them. The costs are just the expenses that are paid by the lawyer’s office to investigate your claim, conduct negotiations, or go to court if necessary.

This cost will normally just be a percentage of your final settlement, with a contingency payment.

This is great for you because you won’t have to pay out of your own pocket for your lawyer, but it also helps to motivate the lawyer to get you the most you can out of your settlement.

Each lawyer has different forms of payment, so make sure you ask them what the cost will be before you hire them. Some lawyers decide not to take a percentage of the cost, but rather they will charge hourly fees for their services instead.

However, just because you may not have to pay anything to hire them, there may be certain fees associated with pursuing your case. You should make sure everything is spelled out in your contract so you both know what to expect and don’t get hit with fees later on when your case is over.

Hourly Rates

If your lawyer charges by an hourly rate, you will have to pay your lawyer for every hour that they work on your case. You’ll have to pay this regardless of if you win your case or not.

However, the hourly billing rates aren’t as common as a contingency payment plan. They’re not as popular because many people don’t have the money to pay for everything upfront. It’s also not great for the attorney because they will usually make less money than they would with a fraction of the settlement.

While this may not be true for every lawyer, being charged hourly rates can be a red flag. It may mean that the lawyer doesn’t think that you have a strong case of winning or will even get enough money back.

You can ask them if they represent other people with a contingency plan. If they say yes, you may want to leave and find another lawyer who won’t charge you hourly rates.

When you are charged an hourly rate, you’ll have to pay every single fee and expense. However, all of this should still be laid out in your contract.

Contingency Payments

You may also find other lawyers who will charge you with a contingency payment. This means that their payment is contingent on them winning your settlement for you.

So if your lawyer isn’t able to win your case, that means that you don’t have to owe them any money. So there’s less risk in it for you!

The percentage that they will take can vary. For example, if they say they’ll take 25% of your settlement, and you settle for $100,000, they’ll get $25,000 out of your settlement.

The amount will also depend on when they settle the case either after or before filing a lawsuit.

If they settle before you have to file, the lawyer will generally only get a third of your settlement. If you settle after you file the lawsuit, then that percentage may go up to 40%. However, these percentages can vary according to the lawyer, so make sure that you ask them before you work with them.

The contingency rates are normally higher because there is more risk for the lawyer. They could spend hours working on your case, but if they don’t win, they’ll lose all that money.

If you find a lawyer you really want to work with but their contingency rate is too high, you can always try and negotiate with them; it’s not always set in stone.

Court Fees

In addition to either of those payment methods, you may also be charged fees if they have to go to court.

Even if you lose your case, you’ll likely have to pay fees for police reports, medical records, court reporters, trial exhibits, postage and copying charges, filing, expert witness statements, and any other administrative fees.

Each lawyer will be different on how much they charge you for those expenses. Some of them will send you a bill as they happen, but some of them will only send you one bill at the end of the case.

The expenses can be a difficult cost to estimate because these costs will get worse if the case is dragged on longer. Some lawyers will also deduct these from your settlement.

If you’re ready to hire a lawyer for your case today, make sure that you check out these personal injury lawyers.

Learn More About How Much it Costs to Hire a Personal Injury Attorney

These are only a few things to think about when you are deciding whether it’s worth it to hire a personal injury attorney, but there are many more things to consider.

We know that hiring a lawyer can be stressful and overwhelming, but we’re here to help you out!

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