17 February, 2015
Finding The Right Personal Injury Attorney For Your Caseā¦
If youāve been injured and someone else may be at fault, you shouldnāt hesitate to talk with a personal injury lawyer. In fact, you should talk with several personal injury lawyers. Youāll get several opinions about your case, as well as a feel for the lawyer youāll be comfortable with. And the best part may be it costs nothing to look. Here are some tips to go by as you interview, select and work with a Chicago personal injury lawyer.
What about Money?
You can afford the luxury of interviewing several personal injury lawyers. Youāll not be charged a fee for the consultations. Thatās because personal injury lawyers commonly take cases on a contingency fee This means the lawyer is paid from a percentage of the money you receive in judgment after trial or in settlement of your case before trial. Until then, and if that doesnāt happen at all, you owe nothing in attorneyās fees.
So you wonāt have to pay for that initial consultation, and you donāt have to pay as you go for additional time meeting with your lawyer, or for time as your lawyer works on your case. During your meetings with lawyers youāll explain how you were injured. Youāll explain what medical treatment youāve had, and what your doctors say about your recovery. Itās important to give all the details, including the facts that might show you were in part to blame for the accident.
The lawyer will listen to your story. This consultation is a two-way process. Just as you should be thinking about whether this lawyer is right for you, the lawyer will be deciding whether the case, and you, are right for her. Remember, the lawyer wonāt get paid except from your judgment or settlement. This means the lawyer must be honest and decline your case if youāre unlikely to win. This holds true also if you might win but your settlement or judgment would be too small to compensate you and pay the contingent fee.
More about Contingent Fees
As mentioned above, personal injury lawyers work on a contingent fee basis. The fee is contingent on the outcome. The lawyer will be paid only from the funds you receive in a judgment or settlement. This differs from lawyers in most other types of practice, where hourly and flat fees are usual. If you donāt recover any money from a judgment or settlement, you donāt owe the attorneyās fees. Itās about that simple.
The fee will be a percentage of your recovery. The percentage may vary depending on where you live and case type. In general, though you can expect to pay something like 33 percent if your case settles before trial. If your case is tried to judgment, you probably will pay 40 percent.
You should think twice about pursuing your case if you canāt find a lawyer to take it on a contingency basis. This indicates your case might not be worth the resources needed for a lawsuit. Thereās a chance a lawyer would take it on an hourly basis. But you should think about whether you really want to pay good money for a bad case.
Expenses Are Separate from Fees
The costs of a personal injury lawsuit arenāt limited to fees. Other costs include:
Ā· Copies of records & reports
Ā· Research costs
Ā· Court costs, such as filing and deposition fees
Ā· Fees for investigators and expert witnesses
Ā· Copying, fax and other office expenses
You wonāt have to pay these out of pocket. The lawyer will pay for these items as the case progresses. As with the lawyerās fee, the lawyer will be repaid these costs out of your settlement or judgment. The order of payment is fees first, then costs. So the fee is a percentage of the gross settlement.
A lawyer may or may not advance medical costs for you, according to the bar rules in your state. If these costs may not be advanced to you by the lawyer, the lawyer may recommend other sources of funding if you canāt afford them.
If you live in Illinois and have been involved in an accident that was not your fault, and you have been injured, donāt hesitate to call The Horwitz Law Group.
To learn more about the personal injury process at The Horwitz Law Group, feel free to contact us by e-mail or call 312-641-9200. The initial consultation is free of charge of course. We will evaluate your case and tell you the truth as to whether or not itās worth taking to court.
