You need legal help and you decide to contact a lawyer.  How do you know how much your lawyer is going to charge you?  How do you know if what he or she charges is a fair amount?  Additionally, most of the time someone needs a lawyer, there is a lot of emotion involved because usually something wrong has happened, which is why they need a lawyer in the first place.  Most people need lawyers because they have been arrested for DUI or some other crime, or they are getting divorced, or they have been in an accident.  People also need lawyers when they are buying their house, or getting their will or estate plan put together.  No matter why, the question becomes, HOW MUCH!!

     Lawyers generally charge clients in one of three ways:  hourly; contingent fee; or flat fee.  Most divorce lawyers charge hourly.  Most criminal defense lawyers charge hourly or flat fee depending on the situation.  Personal injury lawyers use a contingent fee, which means they do not get paid unless they get a recovery on your behalf.

     Lawyers that charge on an hourly rate will usually also require you to deposit a certain sum in advance to act as a retainer.  Make sure that any fee arrangement is in writing to protect you.  Make sure you are clear on what you want your lawyer to do, and make sure your lawyer provides you with a timely bill that itemizes exactly what tasks were done and how much time each task took.  Do NOT let your lawyer merely summarize an entire group of events or tasks they did with a lump time entry at the end.  An example of that sort of bill is as follows:  “Discuss case with opposing counsel; prepare letter to client; legal research regarding case facts; prepare memo to file; prepare notices to court and counsel; prepare docket and diary entries:  3.0 hours”.  When you get a bill like that, you have no way of knowing how much time each of those tasks took.  An example of an acceptable style of billing is as follows: “Discuss case with opposing counsel (.20); prepare letter to client (.30) legal research regarding case facts (2.20) prepare notices to court and counsel (.20) prepare docket and diary entries (.10)”.  The second example shows you in one/tenth  hour increments how much time was spent for each task, thus giving you more information into how efficient your lawyer  is.  Many legal tasks seem complicated to you, but are in fact very routine and simple to an experienced lawyer and should not be billed based upon their perceived difficulty, rather than the actual amount of time spent doing them.  In our opinion, NEVER accept a bill that reads as follows: “Legal services for client during March, 2007 (3.0)”.  With that bill, you have no real idea what your lawyer did or how efficient they were.  The legal bill in an hourly case should read like the table of contents to a book if the book were about your legal case.

     Now that you know how your hourly fee lawyer should bill you, what about your retainer?  And how much per hour is acceptable?  The hourly rate you are charged should be a competitive rate based upon the sort of work  you need done.  You want a lawyer that specializes in the sort of case that you have and is well respected.  Generally, you should interview more than one.  Call the local  bar association and ask them these sort of questions too.  Ask friends that needed that sort of help and see what they were charged.  The retainer is deposited into the lawyer’s account, and usually they lawyer will bill against the retainer and require you to refund the retainer as it runs low.  The retainer protects the lawyer from performing substantial legal work and not getting paid.  When the case is over, whatever is left in the retainer should be given back to you.

     Flat fee lawyers charge a set amount for what the legal problem is. Some examples include routine traffic cases, DUI, adoption, etc.  Check in the classified sections and you will see lawyers advertising for these sort of cases and boasting about the low rates.  Hiring the lawyer with the lowest rate may not get you the best lawyer, but the best advertiser.  Again, check with your bar association and the state agency that governs the lawyers in your state.

     Contingent fee lawyers are usually those that help victims of accidents.  The fee is a percentage of the gross recovery, plus the repayment of expenses.  The best feature of a lawyer that bills this way is that you the client usually do not have to come up with any of your own money to pay the lawyer while the case is moving along.  When the case settles, the lawyer will take a percent, usually of the gross amount of the recovery, plus whatever expenes they advanced to handle the case.  In personal injury cases, the percent charge often varies by locale and the type of case.  Most lawyers charge 1/3 as their fee.  In some cases though, we have seen lawyers charge as high as 50% for their fee!!!  That seems extravagant and greedy.  Some types of cases have the fees set, such as in workers compensation cases.  Also, in some states, the legislature has outlined the maximum fee the lawyer can charge, for instance in Illinois, the way a medical malpractice fee arrangement is defined by the legislature.

     No matter what your fee arrangement is, talk about it with your lawyer if you have any questions.  Don’t be afraid to ask questions!!!   Also, ethics guidelines usually require that lawyers only charge a reasonable fee.  Ask the bar association.  No matter what, get a lawyer that specializes in the sort of legal problem you have.  It may not be the best idea to have your divorce lawyer handle your auto accident.  But, ask your divorce lawyer who he/she would recommend!!  Good Luck!!