The typical Personal Injury Lawyer in Mississauga asks each client to pay a contingency fee. That means that the lawyer’s client gets asked to give a certain percentage of any compensation or court-ordered judgment to the hired attorney.

The lawyer’s percentage is not a fixed amount.

That percentage changes, according to the lawyer’s completed tasks. Lawyers that do no more than negotiated a settlement usually take home 33.3% of their client’s compensation package. Sometimes, clients negotiate for a smaller percentage, such as one closer to 25%.

Lawyers that file a lawsuit for a client, and then go after a pre-trial settlement could seek more than 33.3%. However, it is doubtful that any of them would seek as much as 40% of the money given to the client. Suppose, thought that the client’s case was to go to court. In that situation, the client’s attorney would have reason to seek 40% of any court-awarded judgment.

Clients must reimburse their lawyers for the costs and expenses

That reimbursement money comes from the same source as the contingency fee. Even lawyers that do no more than negotiate a settlement have to pay certain costs and expenses:

• Cost for obtaining client’s medical records
• Cost of the police report
• Cost of investigators and any experts
• Cost of postage

Lawyers that try to do without the help of experts could find it hard to negotiate the best deal. Sometimes, the adjuster for the defendant’s insurance company can pretend to have expert knowledge, when, in fact, he or she does not possess such knowledge.

When that happens, a lawyer’s failure to consult experts could encourage an acceptance of the adjuster’s claim. That could force a decrease in the size of the client’s possible compensation package. Both lawyers and clients should realize that adjusters do not have any legal or medical training.

An attorney that must represent a client in court has to pay a longer list of expenses. That same attorney has usually already tried negotiating with the insurance company. That effort cost money, as shown by the above list. Preparations for a court case add more items to the above list. Here are the added expenses for those lawyers that are handling a court case:

• Paying the fees charged by any expert witness
• Paying the fee charged by the court during the filing of a lawsuit
• Paying the costs associated with the holding of a deposition:
• a court recorder
• Transcription services
• Added witness fees
• Paying the cost of trial exhibits; Possible costs associated with an appeal

Clients that have suffered a severe injury have less reason to worry about the above expenses. Their compensation or court ordered judgment usually allows for the deduction of such expenses.