If you won a settlement, a lawyer would usually get a third of the award an insurance company had to provide.
It’s important to remember that reputable lawyers will only charge a fee if they win your case for you. If they can’t earn you anything for your injuries, they go home with nothing. Then, you aren’t actually aren’t responsible for the attorney’s fee. If your attorney earns a settlement for your family, your lawyer would be paid out of the insurance settlement check.
How a California Personal Injury Lawyer is Paid
Hiring a Lawyer
After taking advantage of a free case consultation, if you feel a lawyer can help you earn more for your injury, you may want to hire a lawyer to represent you. You would sign a contract and that should include a clear explanation of what you’ll be paying and when.
The amount you owe your personal injury lawyer should never come as a surprise. When you sign the documents to allow a lawyer to represent you, the paperwork will include a fee agreement. It describes how the lawyer would get paid, how much, and when. If you have questions about what you are responsible for you should ask your lawyer.
Paying a Lawyer
Maison Law is like a lot of other law firms in that we generally work on a “contingency fee” basis. It means our pay is contingent on us winning your case for you. There are no upfront charges and if we don’t win your case, we don’t get our fee. You wouldn’t pay anything.
If your case is won, most attorneys would receive around 33% of the money you received in a settlement agreement. In some cases, that percentage would be adjusted to make sure victims have what they need to fully recover physically and emotionally after a scary accident.
Why Does My Lawyer Get a Third of My Insurance Settlement?
Your injury insurance claim or injury lawsuit can be a risky time financially for you. You may put off paying your medical bills waiting on an insurance check that never comes.
An insurance company may find a way to pin the blame for the accident on you. This can happen even if you are clearly innocent. You could end up with nothing while still having medical bills and monthly bills piling up.
Your lawyer takes similar risks. Under a contingency agreement, your lawyer handles the cost of investigating your accident and puts in valuable office hours tracking down documents and securing testimony. Your lawyer may have to put together a lawsuit and go to trial. Your lawyer may pay for expert witnesses and accident reconstruction teams to make sure your case is backed up by the best evidence.
No matter how hard the lawyer works on the case, it may fail due to an unforeseen piece of evidence or a ruling in court that wasn’t expected. The whole case may be lost based on a detail someone involved in the accident forgot to mention. Your lawyer can put in a lot of time and effort and suddenly have nothing to show for months of work. Lawyers receive a big portion of an accident settlement check in exchange for taking this financial risk.
The idea is that good lawyers will usually be able to earn you much more for your injury than you could earn on your own. This additional money is supposed to more than makeup for the fee the attorney receives. The client earns more and the attorney earns more.
Of course, trusting your case to an experienced and established lawyer is the key to a positive outcome for everyone. Hiring a skilled Maison Law attorney is the best way to ensure you bring home the money you need to cover your medical bills and support your family.
Contact a California Personal Injury Lawyer
Speak with a skilled California Personal Injury Attorney after any type of accident caused by someone else’s carelessness leaves you or a loved one with a serious injury. It’s important to know about every benefit available to you and your family because an insurance representative won’t be informing you about all of your options.
Contact Maison Law for a free, no-obligation consultation. It’s a no-risk way to find out what your injury is worth and what you should be holding an insurance company to.
