There Are Three Main Kinds of Fees Charged by Lawyers
1) Contingency Fees
One way lawyers or attorneys charge fees is through what is called a "Contingency Fee". A "contingency fee" means that the lawyer gets a percentage of the money he recovers for the client. The fee is "contingent" upon the lawyer winning money for the client. If the client gets nothing, neither does the lawyer.
Almost all personal injury cases and many claims against insurance companies are handled on a contingency fee basis. There is, however, no legal requirement that personal injury cases be handled on a contingency fee basis. But, accident victims usually suffer financial loss and are not able to pay hourly fees as the lawyers works on the case. More importantly, when an attorney takes a contingency fee case the client can feel assured that the lawyer has confidence in the case. In contrast, when the lawyer takes a case on an hourly fee, the lawyer is going to get paid regardless of results so the client has to depend on the lawyer's honesty and legal judgment when the client decides if it would be worthwhile to pursue a case on an hourly basis.
In a contingency fee arrangement the lawyer usually pays for costs of litigation which are then charged back to the client when the case is settled or a judgment paid. The biggest cost items for cases that are either tried or prepared for trial are expert witness fees. If the case is tried it is usually necessary to pay a doctor a large fee to come to court and testify about the client's injuries. In a medical malpractice case it will be necessary to hire a doctor in the same specialty as the doctor being sued to testify why the doctor being sued violated the standard of care. In a products liability case an expert will have to be hired in most cases to explain why the product is defective.
If the case is not tried, but suit is filed and the case is prepared for trial, costs will include the filing fee and often smaller payments to expert witnesses for written opinions. There may also be fees for depositions of expected trial witnesses. (Depositions are proceedings in a lawyer's office in which the expected witness is placed under oath and asked questions by attorney. A court reporter takes down the questions and answers.)
For certain car and truck accident cases in which there is a favorable police report we compete on price and offer a low discount 25% Contingency Fee in contrast to most other law firms which charge 1/3 to 40%. However, in other personal injury cases, or car accident cases without a favorable police report, we charge the more standard 1/3 to 40%. We charge 40% for legal malpractice cases. See LowFeeforFavorablePoliceReportCases
Note: There are some types of cases in which lawyers are not allowed to charge a contingency fee. These include divorce and criminal defense cases. However, contingency fees may be allowed in regards to petitions to MODIFY spousal and/or child support payments.
Broadly speaking, there are also two types of contingency fee. The contingency fee we use is a flat percentage rate or flat contingency fee regardless of whether the case settles without filing suit or goes to trial. But some lawyers use an escalating contingency fee. For example, the fee might be 33.33% if settled w/o filing suit and 40% if it is necessary to file suit and 45% if it is tried and 50% if there is an appeal.
2) Hourly Fees:
A second type of fee is the straight hourly rate, usually with a retainer to cover several hours paid up front. This kind of fee is usually charged for business, contract, and all matters where the client is the defendant in a civil case. Criminal defense is usually done either on an hourly rate or a flat fee. The hourly rate charged by our firm, like many other firms, depends on the complexity of the work and which specific lawyer handles it. Another complication with an hourly rate is whether there will also be hourly charges by paralegals or by more than one attorney.
3) Flat Fees:
The third type of fee is a flat fee. In our uncontested probate cases we offer a flat rate and seek to compete for your business as the high quality, low cost probate lawyers in Las Vegas, Nevada. See our legal fees listed at http://probatenevada.net/probate.aspx In uncontested probate cases we seek to be more than affordable probate lawyers in Las Vegas, Nevada; we believe we are the high quality low cost probate lawyers in Las Vegas, Nevada. In uncontested probate cases there are economies of scale which we can pass on to you. While probate cases involve a lot of details, there is not a lot of room for creativity in uncontested probate cases, nor any advantage in being super-aggressive. (However, in personal injury cases where the recovery often is all about creativity and aggressiveness we do not try to compete on price, except for certain favorable police report car and truck accidents as mentioned above.)
Whether the attorney charges a flat fee or an hourly fee, the attorney will usually charge a retainer fee, which is upfront money to help insure that the lawyer gets paid all or part of the fee. Retainer fees are divided into regular or refundable versus non-refundable retainer fees. The advantage to the lawyer of a non-refundable retainer is that s/he may pocket it upon receipt. The regular or non-refundable retainer fee must be put in the lawyer's trust account and can only be taken out and pocketed by the attorney, either all at once, or in parts when it is earned. Naturally, the client would prefer the retainer fee to be a regular retainer fee.
Many clients are afraid that lawyers who charge by the hour will take advantage of them. This is an additional reason we try to offer flat rates for uncontested probates and many other matters.
The State Bar has a fee dispute committee that will hear without charge a client's complaint that an attorney charged an unreasonable fee. Usually the committee will find a fee okay if the client and lawyer agreed to the fee in advance and the lawyer did the work agreed upon. Many complaints to the fee dispute committee are that the lawyer collected an upfront fee and then failed to do the work. See our webpage: Attorney v. Client Fee Disputes
We believe we are very affordable and low cost in many areas. We believe that clients and lawyers should have a clear understanding of fees. Don't be shy about asking us what our fee will be and what it will include. The best way to avoid misunderstandings is to discuss fees up front. In many areas we believe we are the low cost provider of quality legal services and welcome fee inquiries.
Contact Information:
Mail
Reed & Mansfield
6655 West Sahara Avenue, Suite B-200
Las Vegas, Nevada 89146
Phone
(702) 343-0494
regular business hours: 9am-5pm (Pacific Coast time) M-F
most days: We will also take your call between
7am-9pm including weekends and holidays
E-mail
lawlv@cox.net
Website Home Page
http://www.accidentawardslasvegas.com
(c) by Jonathan C. Reed 2010