If you need a lawyer, you must consider how to pay them. To some extent, payment will depend on what you need the attorney to do for you. In some instances, a law firm or lawyer will want a particular payment structure. In other cases, they might opt for a different one.
In this article, we’ll talk about different ways you can pay a lawyer or law firm. You must discuss payment with any attorney before you hire them to make sure you’re both on the same page.
Contingency Payment Structures
The contingency payment structure means that you don’t necessarily pay the lawyer or law firm anything. You will only pay if they get a particular result for you. Usually, contingency fees can range from 20%-50% of any winnings the lawyer or firm might get on your behalf.
As you might expect, lawyers or law firms will not accept this payment structure in many instances. In fact, you’ll see this structure as an option almost exclusively in injury law.
With personal injury law, you might go to see a lawyer after an individual or entity harmed you or made you ill. You might seek a lawyer’s help and advice if a drunk driver hit you, if a doctor operated on you and did not meet the standard of care, or if a company manufactured a product that made you sick. You can probably think of other personal injury cases without much effort.
In such instances, you’re seeking restitution through the legal system. Many law firms only take personal injury cases. That’s because this aspect of the law can make them millions of dollars every year, especially if they take on only the highest-profile cases.
If a lawyer tells you that you don’t have to pay them a cent unless they win your case, that incentivizes suing the entity or person who harmed you. If your lawyer doesn’t win the case, you might feel some disappointment, but at least you will pay your attorney nothing. You’ll lose the time you dedicated to the case but no money.
A By-the-Hour Rate
A by-the-hour rate follows a more standard format if you hire a lawyer and agree that is how you’ll pay them. The lawyer will tell you how much they charge per hour, and then you must decide whether you think that’s worth it or not.
Many attorneys charge by the hour. Novice lawyers might still charge hundreds of dollars per hour, depending on what service they’re performing for you. Highly experienced attorneys might charge you thousands of dollars per hour instead. They can demand that much if they can point to how long they studied, their reputation, and the prestigious firm for which they work.
You can hire an attorney or a law firm at a by-the-hour rate for many different tasks. They might help you with tax law, or perhaps you need them to defend you from criminal charges.
If you hire a lawyer at a by-the-hour rate, though, keep in mind that if they’re working on your behalf, they will bill you for those hours, even if they never step foot inside a courtroom or anything similar to that. Sometimes, simply doing research on your behalf might involve you paying them the agreed-upon by-the-hour rate.
Having a Lawyer on Retainer
You might also have a lawyer on retainer. Often, you’ll do this if you represent a company. Business entities often need lawyers on retainer if they have often have tasks for which they need attorneys.
Usually, a large corporation will have a lawyer on retainer or more than one. Some enormous companies have entire firms on retainer. These firms might charge the company millions of dollars per year for services they render.
If you have a law firm on retainer, maybe that’s because individuals frequently sue you, and you need your lawyers to handle those constant legal cases. Certain companies operate in such a way that people or other business entities sue them often.
If you have a lawyer or firm on retainer, you might pay them an agreed-upon fee per month, even if they do no work for you. They will earn that base salary for doing nothing, but then they start charging you billable hours on top of that the moment you give them an assignment.
Can You Retain a Lawyer Without Paying Them Anything?
If a lawyer works for an entity or person and they don’t expect any payment in return, the legal system calls that pro bono work. If the police say you committed a crime and you must appear in court, you don’t need to hire a lawyer. The legal system will appoint you a public defender. The law states that everyone should have legal counsel, even those who can’t afford it.
There’s a potential problem with getting a lawyer the court appoints you if the police say you committed a crime, though. Often, you’ll get a neophyte attorney who just passed the bar. If they’re getting into criminal defense, they might do some pro bono work while they’re getting their first legal experience as a practicing attorney.
However, if you don’t accept a court-appointed attorney when you need criminal defense, you must pay the law firm or lawyer who you hire instead. If you don’t have very much money, or none at all, you probably won’t like that prospect very much.
Many times, if you get a lawyer working pro bono in the criminal defense niche, they will look at your case and tell you that you should take a plea deal. They will tell you, and rightly so, that the court system doesn’t like it if you won’t accept a plea. If you didn’t commit the crime, though, you might not do that willingly. No matter how you pay your lawyer or what service they’re doing for you, you must make sure you understand the payment structure before you officially hire them.
