What Are Contingency Fees?
A contingency is an event that is possible but not guaranteed; in law, this means that it is an outcome of a case that may happen but is not promised. When it comes to lawyers, no outcome is ever 100% certain, so contingency-based payment essentially protects the client from having to pay thousands of dollars out of pocket only to lose a case.
Contingency fees are paid only when certain events occur. In this case, you only pay a contingency-fee attorney when you recover damages. For example, in a personal injury lawsuit, you would not pay our office until your claim was compensated. Only then would we receive a previously agreed-upon amount of your award.
How can a law firm possibly make money operating this way? By being great at what they do. Lawyers who work on a contingency-fee basis are confident in their skills and generally have a high success rate at winning cases for their clients.
What Fees Will I Pay?
The fees will include hours spent working on your case, as well as additional legal fees the office may have paid, such as hiring expert witnesses, paying for medical exams, obtaining records, and so on. If you do not win your case, then you will likely still need to pay some fees to the attorney; the exact amount of what you will owe will be written in your retainer agreement.
You must sign a retainer agreement before a lawyer can work for you. This legally binding contract outlines the rules of your relationship, and it will cover what fees you will owe your attorney and how much money they will be entitled to if you win your case.
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