If you do not know it yet, personal injury litigation is among the few sections of the law wherein the impoverished people can have equal access or opportunity to justice.
The primary facet of its accessibility even to the underprivileged is the implementation or agreement over a contingent fee basis of payment for the services/representation of personal injury litigation attorneys.
Ordinarily, the fee that a client is going to pay for an attorney is a percentage of the total amount won as recovery for the damages caused by a personal injury. There will be no bearing to the amount if the recovery had been won through a jury verdict, settlement and other alternative procedure to resolve the dispute.
The aspect of the attorney's fee being contingent arises from the agreement that once the client have not won any recovery then the client will not be under any obligation to pay an attorney fee.
This contingent fee must be distinguished from the expenses of the attorney during processing of the case. These expenses usually remain as an obligation that the client must pay aside from the attorney's fee. In most cases, the lawyer advances these expenses during times when the case become pending. After the personal injury case's conclusion, the attorney will then make deductions from the amount of recovery allotted for the client.
Advantages of Contingent Fee
1. Absence of a client's risk - the client does not need to owe a fee to the attorney if there had been no recovery won.
2. Client's security - this fee arrangement makes the client secure in the knowledge that the attorney has staked his fate with how the case will turn out along with his. Through the attorney's willingness to handle the client's personal injury case based on a contingent fee, the attorney is already showing an indication of having confidence to win a recovery out of the case.
Like other professionals, a lawyer does not put his services free (unless it is a pro bono case). They also cannot afford becoming engaged in cases wherein they have no confidence of producing enough fees to commensurate for the professional performance they are expected to show.
When an attorney takes on a case based on contingent fee agreement, the client could at least expect some positive results concerning recoveries.
3. Attorney motivation - the attorney becomes motivated and encouraged in extending his legal expertise and maximizes the recovery his client is expected to receive.
Other kinds of cases involving litigation oblige clients to pay an attorney for every hour spent on their case. Thus, whatever the outcome of the client's case, it does not make any kind of difference in earnings for the attorney.
In personal injury litigation cases with contingent fee agreement, the attorney's earnings depend upon the result or outcome of the client's case. The attorney is then challenged to spend more effort and precious time needed to ensure greater recovery for the client.
It is important for the client to know the advantages of contingent fee payment and the way it works. If you are a plaintiff in an injury case, whether in LA County or elsewhere, make sure that you work out a transaction of this type with your personal injury litigation attorney before halfway of its process. It would be to your best advantage.
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