How much should you pay a personal injury lawyer in Massachusetts? Photo illustrates hundred dollar bills with a toy car and a gavel on top to illustrate the costs of a car accident and hiring an attorney..  First things first: You should never pay a personal injury lawyer out of pocket. One of the biggest benefits of hiring an injury lawyer is that they work at no out-of-pocket cost to you. Injury attorneys only take a fee if and when we successfully resolve your case. This is called a “contingency fee” because the fee is contingent on a successful recovery BEFORE the fee becomes due.

If you or a loved one were injured in an accident, you’re in the right place. Spada Law Group has exclusively represented injured people in Massachusetts for more than 25 years. 

How Contingency Fees Work and What They Cover 

There are many social benefits of contingency fees in personal injury law. 

Three big benefits of contingency fees:

  1. Contingency fees allow people with no means to hire an attorney.
  2. Contingency fees mean that attorneys are not billing hours, so attorneys are truly incentivized to work to get you the best possible settlement. 
  3. Contingency fees mean if personal injury lawyers lose, they get nothing. If we take your case, it means we believe you have a case worth fighting for and that we will do our best to win.

It’s important to know that most injury cases do not go to trial. According to recent U.S. Department of Justice data, only 4% to 5% of personal injury cases go to trial in the U.S.. That means more than 95% of personal injury cases are settled pre-trial in what we call a “settlement.” But if a case does need to go to trial, you want to ensure your lawyer is skilled enough to go the distance

This is vital information to know when consulting personal injury attorneys because some attorneys will take more of your settlement than others. 

An average contingency fee for a personal injury attorney across the board is about 33%. This contingency fee covers payment for the attorney's efforts. It is very important to realize that in addition to this contingency fee the lawyer will also take back any expenses they advanced in order to properly prepare your case such as hiring experts, court filing fees, deposition costs, and more..   

What The “Big Billboard and TV Lawyers” Could Cost You

Remember: More than 95% of cases are settled and do not go to trial.

You’ve likely seen the nonstop TV ads and billboards of lawyers who claim to be the “biggest” and the “best”. Be careful when signing a contingency fee agreement with such firms. They often charge a much higher fee for very straightforward cases. Someone has to pay for all those TV ads!

We’ve had clients come to Spada Law Group after consulting with that BIG NAME firm, and the contingency fee agreement was for 40% of the case’s settlement. They take 40% of the case’s value whether the case settles or goes all the way to trial. If the case takes 3 months or 5 years to resolve, it's still 40%. 

This is incredibly steep, considering that most cases do settle. Of course, as we mentioned, attorneys need to recoup their expenses for a case and need to be paid for their work. There is a huge difference, however, in the amount of work that goes into settling a case and the amount of work that goes into preparing for trial and being on trial. 

A fair contingency fee agreement should have more of a sliding scale, so to speak, that may alter depending on if your case settles, at what point your case settles, and whether your case does go to trial.  

To be clear, we’re not saying to settle for just any personal injury attorney. You still want to get the best attorney you can, and you want to work with someone you trust and feel comfortable with. You certainly would rather pay 40% of a $1 million verdict or settlement than 30% of a $500,000 settlement. It is important that you are working with a personal injury attorney who knows what your case is worth, and who is going to fight for you and your best interests. 

How Spada Law Group Contingency Fees Work

We don’t believe in a “one size fits all” model. We believe in assessing each case and situation individually because every client and every case is unique. Our firm seeks to be fair and compassionate. Standard contingency fees for settlements are 33%.

Sometimes, however, settlements take years of work and cost more to continue and progress the case, and we would have a different contingency fee structure agreed on. Trials, as mentioned above, also require more work, time, and cost. When we reach an agreement with clients, we decide on a contingency fee if the case is settled, and a different contingency fee if the case does go to trial. We believe this is the best way to be fair to you as a client, rather than charging a single, flat-rate across the board no matter what happens with your case. 

If you work with Spada Law, and we settle your case, we will take a smaller percentage of your settlement as a contingency fee than we would if your case went to trial. For example, if one of those billboard lawyers settle your case in 2 weeks for $200,000, they would still take 40% just as if they’d worked on it for months before reaching an agreement. 

Some firms even charge clients “interest” on all the money that is fronted for their case. So, say a firm spends $1000 in costs on your case, when it comes time for settlement they may add interest on that amount which comes out of your settlement.. We don’t believe in charging interest on case costs. The only thing we care about when it comes to interest is doing our best work for your best interest. 

Schedule a FREE Personal Injury Consultation in Massachusetts Today

Schedule your free consultation at our Chelsea, Peabody, Worcester, or Newburyport injury law offices today. Or better yet, call us and set up a Zoom call, we may very well be able to handle your entire case virtually. You don’t pay us a dime until we win for you. 

During the free consultation, our personal injury lawyers will look over your case and take the time to answer questions and let you know how we’d work with you to fight for your rights. You never know what kind of compensation your pain and suffering is worth, but as attorneys with three decades of experience, we can help you know exactly what you’re entitled to after an accident or injury. 

Not only is the consultation free, but you’ll never have to pay us out-of-pocket. Prior to taking on your case, we discuss and agree upon what portion of your settlement the law firm will take as compensation for helping you settle your personal injury case. 

If you were injured in an accident the last thing you need is to choose the wrong lawyer to help guide you through the process of getting compensated - download our free book instantly for help selecting an attorney: “Hiring the Right Injury Lawyer: Questions to Ask Before you Hire a Lawyer.”

Call or Text us Today at: 617- 889-5000

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