Whenever something comes up in our lives or the lives of a loved one, cost will be a concern. This is nowhere as true as when hiring a lawyer. Some of us might have hired a lawyer before, and had a costly experience as a result. Some of us might never have even spoken with an attorney before, but have heard about lawyers costing an arm and a leg. Either way, concern about cost is natural. This article will help explain some costs associated with hiring an attorney, and what to—or not to—look for when doing so.
Different Types of Fees
Typically speaking, there are three fee structures, and they are a flat fee, an hourly fee, and a contingency fee. A flat fee is exactly what it sounds like: one fee to get representation for a case or cases. The fee usually depends on the type and seriousness of the case involved. Hourly is also what it sounds like. With some hourly fees, attorneys normally require some money down, from which they can then bill hourly. Hourly fees can depend on the lawyer to whom you speak. Lastly, with contingency fees, an attorney represents someone in a civil case, and only receives money once the client receives money. Contingency fees are usually a percentage of a settlement agreement or award.
In the overwhelming majority of instances, we here at Johnson Law Group charge flat fees, and the reasons we do this are that they are more convenient and simpler for everyone involved. We also charge flat fees because we work together on cases, and working together means the fee would be substantially more if we charged hourly, for example. No one should be confused about what a lawyer should cost. We are proud of the fact that we're entirely up front about what our fees will be. We don't believe in playing hide the ball. Instead, we believe everyone should know exactly what a case will cost from the start. We even work with people when it comes to our fees.
Multiple Ways to Pay
As anyone could image, there are multiple ways to pay for an attorney. Obviously, cash and check, but even credit or debit card. One of our goals at Johnson Law Group is making hiring an attorney to be as painless as possible. For this reason, we don't limit how someone can go about getting the best law firm in central Illinois. If someone wants to pay part of their fee via cash, and the other part via credit card, that's fine with us. We believe that hiring an attorney should be easier, and have done everything we can to make the process as simplified and as easy as possible. Similarly, there are plenty of people who get financial help from friends or family, and we never expect someone to take off of work either to hire an attorney or to help someone in hiring an attorney, so we also take payments over the phone.
Anyone seeking to hire an attorney should experience a simple, straightforward, and convenient process. There should be no doubt about what it will cost to hire an attorney, and this article hopefully explained both some of the fees and the payment methods lawyers frequently charge.
Copyright © 2017 by Brendan Bukalski
The information provided in this column is general in nature, and should not be relied upon as legal advice or interpreted as creating an attorney-client relationship. As a general rule, all specific legal problems should be handled by an individual's attorney. All rights reserved. Any copying, duplication, or commercial use of the information contained in this column is strictly prohibited without prior permission.