#Consultation fee full#
#Consultation fee free#

You still have your regular bills to pay, and you don’t know how you will keep up with them. You may have also paid for daycare for your kids while you sought treatment and focused on your recovery, and you likely incurred a lot of out-of-pocket costs getting back and forth from treatment and dealing with your injury.Īlthough your boss may appear sympathetic, they just told you that you have used up all your paid-time-off (PTO) and that you need to come back to work, even though you aren’t fully healed. You keep receiving significant medical bills from the hospital along with bills from your personal doctor and other healthcare test and treatment facilities you used to evaluate and diagnose your injuries. The crash wasn’t your fault, but that doesn’t seem to matter to the hospital that treated you in its emergency room. Imagine you sustain an injury in a car accident. Also, many personal injury attorneys offer other benefits to help even the most cash-strapped, financially strained clients get the legal representation they need. That’s right: personal injury lawyers usually do not charge a consultation fee.

#Consultation fee free#

In fact, the first contact between personal injury lawyers and their clients usually happens during a free consultation. However, you don’t have the money to pay your current bills, and you certainly can’t afford to pay a lawyer just to speak with them once or pay them a retainer or their hourly fees to take your case.Ĭontrary to popular misconceptions, lawyers who represent personal injury victims rarely charge by the hour, and they go to great lengths to make their services affordable and accessible to anyone who needs them. You know you need a lawyer for help getting the compensation you rightfully deserve. You also had to take time off work to recover, and you’ve missed out on wages, bonuses, and other income.

You had to get medical treatment, and now you have medical bills along with your other household expenses.

Some lawyers do cost a lot of money, and some rapaciously bill their time to bilk more money from their clients, or they may charge for every photocopy or office item they use in a case to eat up a retainer.īut your case involves a serious personal injury you sustained because of someone else’s negligence or carelessness. Lawyers get a lot of criticism for how much they cost, and many people think only rich people and large corporations can afford to hire top-quality attorneys.

#Consultation fee full#

If all of your answers are “yes,” you may have found the right lawyer for you.You may need an attorney for a legal issue, but you may be wary of contacting a lawyer because you don’t have the money for even an initial consultation, much less for full representation. If your answer to one or more of these questions is “no,” you probably should talk to another lawyer.

Do you understand the lawyer’s explanation of what your case involves?.

Do you think the lawyer has the experience and skill to handle your case?.

Will you be comfortable working closely with the lawyer?.

If you don’t understand something, ask for a simpler explanation.Īfter your first meeting, ask yourself a few questions:

Most lawsuits and other legal work are not “sure things.” However, a lawyer should be able to point out the strengths and weaknesses of your case.įind out how long the lawyer expects your case to take, what steps will be involved, and what you should expect about fees and billing. If the lawyer intends to have another member of the law firm handle any part of the case, you might want to talk to the second lawyer as well.īe wary of any lawyer who guarantees results. Some lawyers may want to review the papers before your meeting.Īsk about any similar cases that the lawyer has handled.įind out if the lawyer will handle your case personally.

Bring the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of everyone connected with the case.Jot down the key points in your case to share with them.