The victim of an accident must deal with a number of different disruptions. Unexpected expenses disrupt the victim’s financial situation. At the same time, the financially-taxed adult must seek to recover from the accident-caused injuries. Such a victim does not feel ready to pay an expensive lawyer. That is why personal injury lawyers have chosen to charge a special type of fee. Each of them gets paid on a contingency basis.
Essential features of a system that charges clients on a contingency basis:
The client does not have to make any upfront payments. The Personal Injury Lawyer in Edmonton does not charge for the hours spent gathering documents, doing needed research or interviewing witnesses. The client reaps the benefits of the time that the lawyer devotes to such tasks, but does not have to pay for that time.
The attorney’s payment comes from an agreed-upon percent of the money awarded to the client. If the client fails to win any award, the lawyer does not receive any money. The lawyer’s skills as a negotiator aid the achievement of pushing for settlement terms that allow a client to win a fair compensation for the damages suffered.
How can a potential client learn about those skills?
All potential clients have the opportunity to attend a free consultation. As a possible client consults with a personal injury lawyer, that member of the legal profession can be asked to disclose the number of cases that he or she has handled in the past. A follow-up question might zero-in on the size of the compensation agreed-to in the average settlement for those past cases.
Of course, if negotiations do not yield a settlement, then the 2 disputing parties may decide to fight-it-out in court. Because that is a possibility, the still-undecided client should know how often the consulted lawyer has argued a client’s case in a courtroom. Lawyers with more courtroom experience tend to win a larger award for their clients, if a lawsuit has been initiated.
Benefits linked to the lawyer’s reasonable fee
The lawyer’s effort helps the client. At the same time, it increases the chances that the lawyer’s payment could be substantial. Personal injury lawyers do not ask for reimbursement of out-of-pocket costs until after the client has received the awarded compensation.
If a consulted lawyer felt that the presented case seemed rather weak, that same member of the legal community could decline to handle it. On the other hand, the client would have the right to consult with any number of other lawyers. If several consumers have suffered injuries from a specific, defective product, all of them can band together and pay for one lawyer’s skills, in order to fight the maker of that product.