Posted on 03/11/25
A lawyer can be a tremendous asset to any injury victim. This is especially true when trying to recover from injuries and keep your life moving while attempting to navigate your injury claim. However, when people think of lawyers, they often think of the price tag. At Towey Law PLLC, our Buffalo personal injury lawyer often works on a contingency fee basis, but injury lawyers may follow several models to secure compensation for their time.
Common Fee Schedules an Attorney May Have
Several considerations go into determining the billing method and how much a Buffalo accident lawyer may charge for their services. Ensuring you have a clear understanding of how that is upfront is important as it may affect how you pursue your case.
Billable Hours
Some firms will calculate their fees based on billable hours. This means they will bill you for the time they put into the case. If it gets to that point, the billed time may include paperwork, meetings, trial prep, and trial. This type of billing model is more common in criminal defense or family law cases than personal injury.
One of this model’s primary drawbacks is the cost’s unpredictability. If your case becomes more involved than expected, its cost is likely to rise similarly.
Flat Rate
A flat rate fee is one you may see in estate planning or family law for relatively simple instances. For example, paperwork for creating a will is pretty standard, so a flat rate can simplify the process. This helps attorneys minimize unnecessary admin time logging hours while also providing a definitive price to clients who may be looking for services.
Contingency Fee
Many injury lawyers bill on contingency. This means they provide services upfront without a fee but collect a percentage of what you recover. These fees may range from 30%-50% of your recovery, depending on the firm, your location, or how much your attorney expects you to recover. Oftentimes, they will collect a lower percentage if they anticipate a higher award amount, and New York statute 1015.15 provides maximums to collection:
- 50% of the first $1,000 recovered
- 40% the next $2,000
- 35% of the next $22,000
- 25% of any recovered amount over $25,000
Though this fee model is the source of some controversy, it allows injury victims access to legal representation they may not otherwise have. This relatively low-stakes system makes competent legal support accessible, and it is critical to accountability for negligent parties and exploitative insurance practices.
Other Fee Considerations
Some additional considerations for how much your Buffalo wrongful death attorney may charge can include the strength of the case and whether they believe it will go to court. Beyond these factors, you may want to ensure you understand how they manage case expenses. These may include costs for filing court documents, requesting medical records, or travel expenses.
Some firms or attorneys will handle these costs independently, meaning they lose that money if they lose your case, or they may plan to deduct it from their recovery percentage. However, in other circumstances, they may expect you to cover these costs regardless, meaning you may owe them even if they lose.
Regardless of the billing model your attorney uses, ensuring you have a clear understanding of your attorney’s fees can save you from surprises in the future. At Towey Law PLLC, we offer free consultations as an opportunity to discuss your case and ask questions you may have about our fee schedule.