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There are no hard and fast rules regarding the legal fees charged by different lawyers. Generally, the fee arrangement is flexible and nominal. Broadly speaking, there are five basic types of fee structures followed. They are generally used individually as per the specific legal advice rendered. Flat or fixed fee is a prearranged fee that the client pays the lawyer on completion of the legal case. The lawyers calculate this amount based on their experience about the time, skill and effort that the case would require. Time based legal fees are calculated by multiplying the numbers of hours spent on the client?s case and charging accordingly. This type of fee structure is generally used in business matters such as negotiating the purchase or sale of a business or property.

A contingency fee is worked out at some percentage of the monetary recovery obtained in a negotiation. This is generally the fee decided in accidents and personal injury cases. This enables the clients to retain a lawyer even if they are not in any position to pay upfront initially.

In some cases, the fees are statutory. In social security disability cases, a set fee of 25% is generally charged on the recovery. In cases such as residential real estate contracts and closings, the money involved determines the legal fee charged by the lawyer. In these cases, though the work involved is almost the same, the lawyer charges more in case of higher priced houses. These are asset- based fees.

Basic legal fees are and should be reasonable under all circumstances. It is also advisable for the client to ensure that there is a written contract between him and the lawyer. There is also a provision for legal procedure in case of any dispute between the client and the attorney over fees.

By: Eric Morris

The legal fees that are paid to a lawyer for a case if subject to money awarded are called contingent fees. In case there is a monetary award, the lawyer gets a percentage of the recovery. There is no written law about the contingent fees the attorney can charge a client. However, the rates are quite uniform because of the competition in this field. The lawyer charges more contingent money in those cases where he needs to spend more time or more money. In certain cases, such as worker compensation claims or claims under the federal law, the fees are regulated by the law.

These contingent fees generally increase in case of complicated cases and those that involve a trial or appeal. Simple cases, without much added expenditure attract a contingency fee of 33 1/3% of the total recovery. In medical malpractice cases, there is lot of money involved and the contingent fees based upon the outcome, have to reflect the risk and are kept high. The contingent fees include the expenses incurred by the lawyer during the case.

Many clients are unsure whether the contingency fee is calculated on the total amount of recovery or after subtracting the expenses. In most cases, contingent fees are calculated on the total amount recovered. A lawyer?s time and expertise has to be considered. If the costs in the case came out of the lawyer’s fee, expensive cases would pay the lawyer little or no fee. Since a lawyer’s time and expertise are part of his work, his compensation must be calculated accordingly.

It is worth considering the fact that if costs were to be borne out of the lawyers share, the lawyer would not want to spend the money. If the case is lost, then the client need not pay the lawyer.

By: Eric Morris

An alarming number of people who are the victims of doctor malpractice, hospital malpractice or medical malpractice do nothing about seeking compensation for their injuries and damages, many of whom suffer quite significant injuries that are of a permanent nature.            

Perhaps one of the main reasons that these people do nothing about pursuing the responsible party is because they realize that these cases are very costly to develop and they have little or no money, so they feel that they cannot go after a doctor or hospital that has far greater resources.            

Medical malpractice cases are handled by lawyers on a contingency fee basis which means that the attorney or law firm retains a percentage of the monetary award through a settlement or after a trial. If there is no recovery then the client owes the lawyer nothing for a fee.            

Still other people may think that medical malpractice cases are very expensive to develop and they do not have money to pay all of the experts that will be needed to properly present their case. Most, if not all, experienced medical malpractice attorneys will advance all of your costs. A large percentage of these lawyers, assuming the rules of that particular state allow for it, will agree not to seek reimbursement of those costs if there is no recover, especially when you have a very good case with a potential for a large recovery.            

If you or someone you know has been injured through doctor malpractice, hospital malpractice or medical malpractice you should contact an experienced malpractice attorney immediately.

By: Richard Hastings