When you’ve suffered an injury, hiring and working with a lawyer sounds stressful. More importantly, it sounds expensive.
But if someone has injured you, you’re already under a great degree of stress, and you’re probably facing thousands of dollars in medical bills and lost wages, not to mention other expenses and losses. What if you could find a lawyer who would take on your case, handle the complex investigation, deal with the insurance companies and the litigation paperwork, and let you focus on your health and well-being — all without expecting any money from you unless they helped you get a settlement or favorable jury verdict?
When you work with AMA Law, that’s exactly what will happen. Our team of experienced attorneys can evaluate your personal injury claim for free, and if we’re able to take your case, we’ll advocate for you on a “no recovery, no fee” basis. To learn more about how our contingent fee policy works, keep reading.
What Is a Contingent Fee Arrangement, and How Does It Work?
If a personal injury lawyer believes they can successfully handle your case, they should be willing to work for you on a contingent fee basis. This means you won’t pay attorney’s fees until your case is resolved. Even then, you’ll only pay if your lawyer was able to secure a settlement or monetary award from a jury on your behalf.
If your attorney gets you a settlement or verdict (attorneys often use the term “recovery” to refer to both outcomes), then they’ll take a percentage of the resulting funds. The percentage varies slightly from firm to firm and case to case, but your lawyer should clearly state the percentage in the agreement you sign when you hire them.
In Oklahoma, personal injury attorneys can’t charge fees of more than 50 percent of a recovery. Most attorneys’ contingent fee percentage varies on a case-by-case basis, so ask your attorney what you’ll be paying and how your fees will be calculated. Once you’ve agreed on a percentage, you’ll want to get a written and signed copy of the agreement from your attorney.
What Are the Advantages of Contingent Fees?
Contingent fee arrangements provide important benefits for injured victims, including:
- Making legal services accessible to all victims
Since many seriously injured victims end up losing some or all of their income and facing significant expenses, only the wealthiest victims would be able to hire a lawyer if they had to pay up front. Without contingent fee arrangements, ordinary people would have little chance of standing up to negligent parties and holding them accountable for their actions, especially if those negligent parties had significant resources, like a corporation or government. - Keeping attorneys and their teams motivated
Let’s be honest: While good personal injury lawyers and their team members work passionately to help injured victims, they also need to put food on the table and pay their bills. Under a contingent fee arrangement, every single person who works on your case will know that the firm makes no money unless your case succeeds. It’s a powerful incentive for everyone to do their best work, even when they’re tired or stressed. - No surprises
Hourly billing statements from attorneys can be incredibly detailed and dense, and verifying that everything on an hourly bill is correct requires lots of record-keeping and double-checking on the client’s part. With a flat-rate contingent fee agreement, it’s easy to verify that the fees your attorney charges you align with what they promised at the beginning of your case.
For more information about our contingent fee policy, including how we handle case expenses, reach out to our team at AMA Law today.
Contact AMA Law for Aggressive, Personalized Injury Representation in Oklahoma
Whatever happened to cause your injury, the team at AMA Law is here to listen to your story and help you understand your rights and options. We have more than 100 years of experience handling some of the most complex injury cases in Oklahoma, and we’ve helped our clients recover more than $100 million in verdicts and settlements.
We’ll give you a free assessment of your case during an initial consultation, and if we can take your case, you won’t have to pay for our services unless we get you a settlement or win your case in court. We call it our “no recovery, no fee” policy, and we’re proud to stand behind it.
To schedule your free initial consultation or learn more, contact AMA Law today by calling 405-607-8757 or completing our simple online contact form. We’ll get back to you right away.
Reference
Contingent fee, 5 OK Stat. § 5-7. Retrieved from https://www.oklegislature.gov/osStatuesTitle.aspx
The content provided here is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice on any subject.