Many lawyers charge hourly fees, but car accident lawyers usually work on a “contingency fee” arrangement. This means you don’t have to pay the lawyer anything up-front to handle your case. If your lawyer succeeds in getting you money for your injuries, your lawyer will take a percentage as a fee and you will keep the rest.
If your lawyer is unable to win you any money—either in a settlement or in a lawsuit in the local courts—the lawyer does not get paid for handling your case. This puts the risk on the attorney, not on you (which also gives the attorney an incentive to be completely truthful with you about your likelihood of winning).
In other words: you should NEVER have to pay a car accident lawyer anything out of own pocket—whether you win or not.
What kind of percentage will I pay if my lawyer gets money for me?
The percentage you pay can depend on a variety of factors, but your lawyer should explain the specifics before you agree to hire a law firm. Usually, the percentage will be smaller if your case is resolved fairly quickly, and larger if it goes all the way to a jury trial.
The reason for the difference has to do with the amount of time the lawyer and the law firm staff has to put in. It takes time and effort to investigate your case, assemble evidence about your accident and your injuries, and negotiate with the insurance company to get you paid. But this is nothing compared to the many hours of work, expert evaluations, witness preparations and other tasks that must happen to get your case ready to go to trial. (Thankfully, most car accident cases can be resolved without ever going to trial—or, in most cases, without even filing a lawsuit.)
Why don’t car accident lawyers charge by the hour?
Frankly, it’s an issue of fairness.
We don’t think it would be fair to charge you by the hour when you need money to support yourself and recover from a car accident. Many of the accident victims we represent are already struggling to pay their medical bills and keep a roof over their heads. If they had to pay hourly legal fees, they wouldn’t get a lawyer at all. That means they’d be left to handle the insurance company on their own.
But insurance companies are staffed with teams of lawyers and highly trained claims adjusters who work hard to avoid paying out claims. They use an array of tricks, including offering you far too little money, blaming you for the accident, and telling you that you weren’t really hurt all that badly. Most people don’t realize this, and few are prepared to go up against the insurance company. As a result, accident victims who don’t have lawyers get taken advantage of and often receive far less money than they deserve.
As one of the top car accident law firms in Atlanta, Georgia, our goal is to make sure this doesn’t happen to you. Your consultation with us is free whether you hire us or not—and we will not charge you a dime while we are handling your case. If we win you money, we’ll keep a percentage. You keep the majority. We take the risk, so you can focus on healing without having to worry about dealing with the insurance company or getting a big legal bill at the end of the month.
We believe this is the best way to help our clients—by making it easy, affordable and risk-free for you to get the help of an attorney. And we will tell you at our very first meeting what we think your chances are of winning your case, and how much your claim will likely pay you. That means you get answers right away, even if you don’t hire us.
Talk to an Atlanta Car Accident Lawyer for Free
Our lawyers have won millions of dollars for accident victims throughout Georgia. Let us give you a FREE consultation and show you how we can help you too—with no obligation. Call us at (404) 341-6555 or fill out the form to the right to get your free consultation today.
