Fee Definitions
The Contingent Fee
If it is clear that your case has much more economic value than it will cost in legal fees to obtain a settlement or judgement (95% of the time a settlement), then there will be lots of attorneys willing to take your case on a contingent basis. This is especially true in personal injury and medical malpractice cases. You can't begin to imagine the kinds of steps taken by attorneys to get to your bedside, or to become connected in some way to your family or friends, if you have been seriously injured.
The offer that "you will pay nothing" may seem very attractive, especially in light of how much the legal services will cost if you pay by the hour. But you still must ask yourself if you want an attorney as a "partner" in your case; one who will exercise much more than 50% of the decision making even though he has only a 33% interest in the outcome. His interest will be to seek settlement, which guarantees his fee, rather than take the risks and lots of work to achieve a judgement at trial. If he or she looses (from lack of work) there is no legal fee to be paid to your attorney and obviously no compensation to you for your injuries. As a client you will never know the real decision making that imposes a settlement on you as a weak client. And how much additional work was really needed to win your case instead of settling it.
So, keep in mind, that while you expect the maximum number of hours of work to achieve the highest recovery, your attorney "Partner" will seek to work the fewest number of hours for the highest settlement. You can not be "paranoid" about these forces. They are real.
In short, the contingent fee has at its core an unresolvable conflict of interest! You must understand how much the facts reported to you can be distorted and how much the risks of your case can be exaggerated, when your attorney is weighing his or her interests against yours.
Return to the List
The Flat Fee
In smaller, predictable cases, you can negotiate either a flat fee with your attorney for the work to be performed or negotiate a high and low amount to be paid. While your attorney may set a limit to his fee when giving you the low amount, expect the ceiling to be billed to you.
The flat fee is generally used when work you want done is entirely predictable and known to your attorney. This includes a real estate transaction, immigration (maybe not so today), drafting a will or filing a bankruptcy petition.
In other words, your attorney must be able to predict the amount of time required to start and finish your case. She or he multiplies the expected hours of work by the hourly rate, adds a little for flexibility, and then bears the loss, below an (already inflated) hourly fee. However, you must ask yourself, if something unexpected comes up, do you want an attorney doing the needed work for nothing?
Return to the List
The Hourly Fee
The hourly fee is the clearest and cleanest basis on which to pay for legal services. However it has its own hazards. The amount of the fees you pay might bankrupt you if you do not have a fair estimate of the overall costs of the work to be performed or if you don't have control over your attorney's work.
So you must take two steps to protect your interests. First, get a real estimate in writing of how much work it will take (you calculate hours x fee) and how long it will take to achieve your goal. Second, require a detailed monthly accounting of the nature and amount of work being performed on your behalf. A detailed statement of hours worked and costs expended should be sent to you at least once a month.
And you should require that all written documents related to your case be sent to you contemporaneously with their being sent or received by your attorney.
If you read all of these documents and file them in an intellectual and retrievable way, one that allows you to immediately answer (and ask) questions that come up, you will be able to monitor and evaluate your attorney's work at the same time it is being performed.
Return to the List
