Ray Hrdlicka – Presenter – Attorneys.Media
“Most people, of course, will immediately know what the situation is… they will go to their doctor. So now they decide, ‘I want to hire a lawyer because I feel like I’m not getting what I should be getting,’ in terms of help, assistance, hurdles that are coming up. So, they say ‘I want to hire a lawyer.’ And the question is ‘I can’t afford to pay you, so… what’s your rate’? How does that work?”
Andrew Dósa – Personal Injury Lawyer – Alameda County, CA
“I tell them they can pay me. It’s just not effective, and it’s not based on an hourly basis. The contingency fee agreement is an agreement that is based on the premise that I will obtain a result for my client in the future. And at that point, we’ll see the full recovery… which is what the client will accept. I do not decide for the client, the client decides. Whatever that number is, my fee would be one third of that, if we have not initiated litigation, and up to the point of mediation or arbitration.
So, until that time, even if it’s two years into the future, and I’ve been essentially running the case and possibly advancing the costs of the case, my fee will be paid at the point that we get that result in the end. So my fee, again, is one third, or forty percent after mediation contingency fee or arbitration. It is not uncommon for some attorneys to charge fifty percent if they go to mediation or go to trial. So it’s usually one-third, forty percent, and forty-five or fifty percent, depending on what the contract says. What the lawyer prefers to do.”