One of the questions that I am usually asked very early on is what it is going to cost the client to hire my office to represent them in a personal injury claim or a lawsuit? By New York law, all law firms handling personal injury cases for plaintiffs handle them on what is called a contingency basis. That means that unless something is recovered for the client, the attorney is not paid, the client owes no legal fees to the attorney. There are also things called legal expenses, which are different. They are the cost of getting medical experts, or other types of experts, or getting medical records.
Those, until recently, would have still been the obligation of the client if there was no recovery. There was recently a change where the client now has the option, and it’s reviewed in the retainer agreement, and I will explain and go through it with you in your retainer agreement, where the client has the choice of choosing whether they will be responsible for the expenses or the attorney is responsible for the expenses. That is entirely the client’s election, not the attorney’s.
The difference is how the fee is actually calculated. Under the old way of doing it, the traditional way, the expenses would be deducted from the gross amount that was received, and then from there, the contingency percentage would be arrived at. Under the new version, it is a little different in that first the amount that is recovered is divided according to the agreed upon percentage, and then the expenses are taken out of the client’s share. The calculations yield slightly different results, and I will have a sample calculation of it when I review the retainer agreement with you so you can figure out which is the best choice for you.
If you are in need of legal counsel in regards to a personal injury in New York, please contact The Law Offices of Jonathan D. Sands and we would be happy to assist you.