If you’ve been injured in an accident, you could be entitled to compensation for your injuries. Many people area aware of this, but they don’t know if they can afford to retain a personal injury attorney or not. There is a stigma surrounding lawyers wherein people think that all lawyers charge hundreds of dollars per hour on the clock. While there might be some out there who do that, personal injury lawyers in Phoenix AZ don’t necessarily charge such high fees.
The way that a personal injury lawyers works is usually a bit different from the way that, say, a criminal lawyer works. Personal injury lawyers realize that if you’ve been injured in an accident, then you probably have high medical expenses that you’re struggling to pay and that you likely don’t have the funds on hand right away to pay expensive attorney fees. That’s why most personal injury law firms don’t require any sort of upfront payment.
You might be familiar with lawyers offering potential clients free consultations so that they can talk about their issues and decide whether their law firm is the right fit for them or not. However, you might wonder how a personal injury law firm gets paid if it doesn’t charge for its services upfront.
The answer is simple. Instead of clients having to pay a flat fee for attorney services or having to pay the attorney for each hour on the clock, personal injury attorneys are usually paid on a contingency basis. This simply means that the attorney doesn’t get paid until the client does. Attorneys who work on contingency bases usually charge a percentage of the settlement that the clients receive for their claims. Most attorneys get somewhere in the vicinity of 30% of any settlement that they secure for their clients. This means that they aren’t paid until the client receives his or her settlement.
What if there is no settlement? If the lawyer fails to secure a settlement, then he or she doesn’t get paid. This helps prove to the client that the lawyer has incentive to work hard on his or her case. If the lawyer’s paycheck is on the line too, then you can rest assured that he or she will be working hard to secure that settlement. Otherwise, all his or her work will have been for naught.
If you’ve been injured in an accident and have hesitated on getting a lawyer because you thought you couldn’t afford one, now you know that it initially costs nothing to retain a personal injury attorney. Contact us today to find out how we can assist you.