How Much Does a Personal Injury Lawyer Cost?

We eliminate the stress and worry that comes with dealing with insurance companies.

If you have been hurt in a car crash or another type of accident, your priority should be getting to safety and getting medical treatment. Yet, in the following days and weeks, you may be thinking more about justice – and getting financial compensation for your injuries. You might even consider hiring a South Carolina personal injury attorney but are worried about the cost.

Most personal injury law firms work on contingency fee agreements. This is a type of fee arrangement where you pay nothing up-front and only pay a fee if you recover money through a settlement with the insurance company or a verdict at trial. The attorney’s fee and costs like expert witness fees will then be deducted from the check from the insurance company.

Based in Simpsonville, the Derrick Law Office advocates for injury victims in South Carolina who have been hurt in all types of accidents. We offer free initial consultations and only charge a fee if we get money for you. Reach out to our law firm today to schedule an appointment with a Simpsonville personal injury lawyer.

How Can I Afford to Hire a Personal Injury Law Firm?

Most personal injury lawyers – including the Derrick Law Office – work off of a contingency fee model. In essence, your attorney won’t get paid unless and until you do. So what exactly does that mean?

In the legal world, there are 3 common types of fee agreements:

Hourly: with an hourly agreement, the client pays the lawyer a set hourly rate. The attorney will keep track of the amount of time that they spend on the case, typically billing in 6-minute increments (1/10th of an hour). Law firms usually ask for a retainer from the client and then deduct their fees from that retainer. If your retainer is spent on legal fees, then you may have to give the law firm another check or pay a monthly bill.
Flat: flat fee agreements are often used in certain types of legal work that involve a higher volume of similar work, such as immigration. The client pays the lawyer the agreed-upon fee for their work. This agreement may include a provision for an additional fee if other legal services are necessary.
Contingency: with a contingency fee agreement, the client does not pay anything out of pocket and will not pay an hourly fee or a retainer. Instead, they will pay a percentage of their total recovery (whether through a settlement agreement or a trial verdict) as an attorney fee. The percentage may vary but is usually between 30 and 40%. Clients may be able to negotiate a different percentage for the fee.

In South Carolina, all attorney’s fees must be reasonable – including contingency fees.

In practice, a contingency fee works as follows. You have a personal injury claim that is settled for $10,000 and a contingency fee agreement of 30%. Your attorney will receive a check from Allstate, State Farm, or another insurance company for the $10,000. They will keep 30% – or $3,333.33 – as their fee.

Your contingency fee will be the same percentage regardless of how many hours your lawyer puts into the case – which means that you don’t have to worry about massive bills. Think of it this way – if a lawyer charges $350 an hour and spends 100 hours on your case, you’d have a bill of $35,000. If a personal injury attorney puts those same 100 hours into your case – or even 500 hours – you will only ever pay them the agreed-upon percentage of your recovery.

Importantly, contingency fee agreements usually require clients to pay for expenses. The law firm will front all of these costs, but the total will then be deducted from the settlement. Common litigation expenses may include:

Cost of getting medical records
Investigator fees
Expert witness expenses
Filing fees
Deposition costs

You won’t be required to pay a single penny of these fees to start your case. Instead, your lawyer will spend their own money to move the case from point A to point B. At the end of the case, you will reimburse the law firm from your settlement.

With a contingency fee, you only pay for legal services if your case is successful. If you don’t win your case, your lawyers won’t get paid either.

Advantages of a Contingency Fee Arrangement

We often say that personal injury lawyers are the easiest lawyers to hire. You won’t ever have to write a check to the law firm, scrape up money for a retainer, or even pay to review your case. Instead, you’ll get top-notch legal legal representation without paying a penny out of your own pocket.

There are several benefits to this type of fee agreement. First and foremost, it allows everyone – regardless of their financial status – to hire a lawyer. This is particularly important after an accident, where you might be out of work and dealing with medical bills and other expenses.

Too often, quality legal representation is out of reach for many South Carolinians. You might be unable to write a check for a large retainer or even pay a flat fee. With a contingency fee, you don’t have to worry about having the extra cash on hand to pay for a lawyer.

Second, when you hire a lawyer on contingency, you aren’t taking a risk. If your personal injury lawsuit isn’t successful, you won’t have to pay an attorney’s fee. This can give you peace of mind in knowing that you won’t be wasting your financial resources on an unsuccessful case.

Taking cases on a contingency basis also means that your lawyer won’t mislead you about the strength of your case. If a law firm is charging an hourly rate, they might have a financial incentive to encourage you to continue litigation. With contingency fees, it simply doesn’t make sense for a law firm to take a case that isn’t likely to succeed.

This brings us to a third benefit of contingency fee agreements: your interests are aligned with your lawyer’s interests. You both want to resolve the case for as much money as possible…as quickly as possible. Because their fee is a percentage of your total recovery – and they only get paid when you do – it is in their interests to get you maximum compensation and to push the case toward a resolution.

Fourth, contingency fee agreements help to level the playing field in personal injury cases. The insurance company will have its own team of adjusters and lawyers, all working to resolve your case for as little money as possible. Having your own legal counsel is the best way to get a fair settlement for your losses.

Our law firm handles a range of personal injury matters on a contingency fee basis, including:

If you have been hurt because of something that someone else did – or failed to do – we are here for you.

Hurt in an Accident? Give Us a Call.

Most people are lucky never to need the services of a lawyer. If you need legal help, a contingency fee agreement can be a great way to get representation without paying any upfront costs. This allows you to focus on what is truly important – your health and loved ones.

Derrick Law Office advocates for accident victims in the greater Simpsonville area. We offer free consultations and never charge a fee unless we recover money for you. To learn more or to schedule an appointment with a member of our legal team, give us a call at tel:8644281923 or fill out our online contact form.