Quote:
Originally Posted by calgaryblood
I was asking if the lawyers don't get paid if they lose, and you said it's basically what you said. Not to nitpick but that's not what you said.
Not getting paid means not getting paid if they lose. Isn't that how most of these lawsuits work? I'm not talking about upfront fees, I mean being paid at all. If a lawyer takes an insurance company on in regards to an automobile accident, they only get paid if they win usually at a set percentage, isn't this exactly how this would work as well?
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Right, they get paid if they win or settle. In pretty every other case, there is an up front fee, or at least an ongoing fee, so that's why I figured it was apparent. The percentage can be set, but is now often a sliding scale based on the level of recovery. This can affect settlement.
Contingency fees sound good in principle but they often don't work very well in practice. The lawyers work hard at getting you to sign up, then don't work that hard because they aren't getting paid on a regular basis, and encourage settlement to get some money in the door, sometimes too early. Kinda like a realtor getting a listing by telling you how much you can make from your house and then pushing you to sell lower so they can grab a quicker commission. And they really aren't as risky for the lawyer as they sound. PI claims rarely go to trial and almost always settle.