What does a personal injury lawyer cost?

Why injury lawyers work this way

An hourly lawyer is affordable to whoever already has money. That is the wrong model for a person who has just been hurt, cannot work, and is watching bills arrive.

So injury cases run on a contingency fee. The lawyer is paid out of the recovery, as a percentage of it. If nothing is recovered, the lawyer is paid nothing. That single arrangement is what lets an ordinary person hire someone to go up against an insurance company.

It also aligns the incentives honestly. Your lawyer does better when you do better, and has no reason to run up hours on a case that is going nowhere.

Fees and costs are two different things

This is the distinction people are most often surprised by at the end, and it is worth understanding at the beginning.

• The fee is what the firm is paid for the work. It is a percentage of the recovery.
• The costs are money the firm spends moving your case forward — filing fees, medical records, deposition transcripts, expert witnesses, mediation. The firm advances these so you never write a check while the case is running.

Both come out of the settlement at the end, and both are itemised on a statement you review before anything is disbursed. Costs are reimbursed as actual amounts spent, not as a second percentage.

The number that matters is your net

People fixate on the gross settlement figure. The number that actually reaches you is what is left after the fee, the costs, and any medical liens are paid.

A larger gross settlement is not automatically a better outcome. A case that settles for less but resolves the medical liens well can put more in your pocket than a bigger number that does not. Boyd will show you the arithmetic on your case, in writing, before you agree to anything.

What "no fee unless we recover" does and does not mean

It means the firm carries the financial risk of the case. If the case does not recover, you are not billed for the hours.

It does not mean the case is free of consequence. Litigation takes time, it asks things of you, and it is not the right answer for every situation. Boyd will tell you when he thinks a case is not worth bringing, which is a less common conversation than it should be.

Ask for the percentage before you sign

Any lawyer should tell you their fee plainly, in writing, before you hire them. The percentage, whether it changes if the case is filed in court or goes to trial, and how costs are handled should all be in the agreement in language you can read.

If a firm is vague about it, that is information about the firm.