The Pros And Cons Of Hiring A Personal Injury Lawyer On A Contingency Basis

If you have been thinking about hiring a personal injury lawyer for a car accident, work accident, dog bite or other type of injury, then you might have heard of hiring one of these lawyers on a contingency basis. Basically, this means that instead of the lawyer being paid an up-front amount when hired, he or she will receive a percentage of your settlement, if you receive one. Of course, there are pros and cons to this model. These are a few things to consider when determining if hiring a personal injury lawyer on a contingency basis is right for you.

The Pros

For many people, hiring a personal injury lawyer on a contingency basis is the best option. These are a few reasons why:

  • If you have recently been injured, you might already be struggling financially. For example, you might not be able to work, and you could have a lot of medical bills. If this is the case, then coming up with the money to pay lawyer fees out-of-pocket might be impossible. If you hire a lawyer with a contingency fee though, you will not have to come up with any money right now.
  • You will not have to pay your lawyer if he or she does not win your case. This means that you really have nothing to lose by hiring a lawyer in this situation, other than perhaps a little bit of time.
  • Since your lawyer will not get paid if you don't get paid, and since his or her pay will be based on how much of a settlement you get, you can feel assured in knowing that your lawyer will fight as hard for you as possible to help you win and help you get the maximum settlement amount possible.

The Cons

As you can see, there are quite a few benefits to hiring a lawyer on a contingency basis. As with most things, however, there are disadvantages too. These are a few cons to think about:

  • Since the lawyer knows that he or she will not get paid if you don't win the case, he or she might be a bit selective about which cases he or she takes on. If the lawyer does not seem to think that you have a good case, then he or she might decline to work with you.
  • Because of the way that your lawyer is paid, there is a chance that he or she could receive a quite large payout for working on your case. However, his or her pay should not exceed the percentage that you agree to when you first hire the lawyer.

As you can see, there are both pros and cons to think about when deciding whether or not to hire a personal injury lawyer on a contingency basis. For many people, however, hiring a lawyer in this way is a good choice. For more information, contact a local law firm like Gelman Gelman Wiskow & McCarthy LLC


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