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In case you have experienced a car accident, the primary thing that you want is to get the full compensation you deserve. Car accidents can cause different types of damage and injuries. Some of them can even be fatal and lead to very serious outcomes. No matter how serious your accident was as well as your injuries, you experienced a trauma that can leave an emotional pain that will follow you for the rest of your life.
Therefore, you certainly deserve the defense of your personal legal rights and in that term, you need to decide whether or not you are going to hire a personal injury lawyer. This is generally one of the most significant decisions that you need to make since it can have a huge impact on the outcome of your case. Not only that it can affect how much compensation you can get for recovering, but also whether or not you will get it in the first place. Most people hesitate to hire an attorney because they do not know what is the true cost of hiring a car accident lawyer per hour.
This is generally one of the top factors that people consider when it comes to choosing the right personal injury lawyer. In this article, we covered everything you should know about the costs of hiring a personal injury attorney, how the fee agreement between two parties works, and whether or not you are needing a lawyer in the first place.
What is the cost that you can expect to hear from a car accident lawyer if you decide to hire some?
In the terms of how much attorneys are charging for their services per hour, you can really expect to hear different prices, since this is the factor that differs from one law firm to another. In general, when you experience a car accident and you are suffering from an injury, you have the full right to be entitled to compensation. These types of personal injury cases can be settled out of the court, however, in some situations, the whole case can go to trial. In both cases, you are needing an experienced and knowledgeable person that has proper negotiating skills, so you can receive the full compensation.
Attorney fees are covering lots of different things and because of that, they can vary. Some of the things that they include are legal advice, research procedure, negotiation, collecting necessary and valuable documents and reports as well as court representation. In general, you are going to pay the price that is based on the lawyer’s experience, knowledge, expertise, and reputability. However, there is always a part of initial consultation when you want to hire an attorney, where you can find out their own price details and decide whether or not you want to hire that particular attorney.
What is the contingency fee and how does it work?
There are lots of lawyers that will choose to charge a contingency fee which represents the standard in those cases in which a client suffered from an injury and got a financial settlement. The primary agreement is that the lawyer will not require any upfront payment. Basically, the lawyer will represent a client and help the client to get full compensation and after a client gets it, the lawyer will receive a percentage of the financial settlement. Logically, this agreement works only if the outcome of the client’s case is successful and the client gets the full compensation he deserves for his injuries.
In case the lawsuit outcome is not successful, the client is not obligated to pay the attorney fees. However, in almost all cases clients get financial compensation. When it comes to the amount of money a lawyer should get after the case is over, that is between the client and the attorney. In general, that contingency fee percentage ranges from 20 to 40%. You should know that every contingency fee agreement needs to be written and signed, so you can review it and get a clear picture of all fee details.
What about the hourly option?
Besides this, you have the rights to choose to pay your attorney per hour. This is also a popular method of how lawyers are receiving their fees and it is very common in car accident lawsuits. In the term of hourly charging, the lawyer will set an amount of money for each hour completed. In general, you can expect that to pay between $100 to $500 per hour.
What are the costs of not hiring a personal injury attorney?
One of the most common mistakes that people are making is believing that they really do not need to hire a lawyer for their personal injury lawsuit because they believe they can handle the whole case on their own. Logically, by believing this, they also think that they are going to keep complete compensation for themselves. Even though car accident cases where you have been injured seem like something you can easily handle, the truth is a lot different. In fact, you are putting yourself and your overall case a risk of losing it.
The first thing that you can expect to see after starting your personal injury lawsuit on your own is that the insurance company will start working very hard to reduce your damages and injury and make you accept a low compensation settlement. They will do everything in their power to trick you into that you actually deserve less money and even make you believe it. Since you will not have an expert lawyer that has valuable negotiating skills, you will not know how to defend your legal rights on your own. Logically, you do not know the law, so you will not have proper arguments and statements that will help you out.
Despite that, without a lawyer, you will have trouble filling out a claim on your own, because you have no experience and you do not really understand the process. Without a lawyer that will help you navigate your personal injury law case process, you are getting a huge disadvantage at the negotiating table. Finally, without a real legal representation in the court, you will not have proper documents and reports which will lead to getting a much lower settlement.
Get a free consultation with the most reliable car accident law firm
After reading this article and receiving a clear picture of how your car accident law case can look like with or without hiring a lawyer, you probably made your decision. In case you are thinking that you can benefit from hiring an attorney and getting a higher settlement, you should consult the most reliable, credible, and reputable foryourrights.com law firm that has very experienced and professional lawyers on its team.