No Fee Unless You Win Personal Injury Lawyer in South Carolina

Need legal help after a car accident, work injury, or suffering from another type of personal injury but worry that you can’t afford an attorney? 

You Can Afford a Whole Team of Personal Injury Lawyers

At Steinberg Law Firm, you can put the firm behind you without paying any cost or fees until we recover compensation for you. You can hire a lawyer while paying nothing out of pocket if you have been injured. In a contingency fee agreement, our personal injury lawyers will represent you without charging a fee until they recover money for you.

You do not pay anything, including attorney fees, if the lawyer does not recover anything for you. 

What is a Contingency Fee?

A contingency fee agreement lays out rules for how you will pay your lawyer 一 and how your lawyer will earn their fee. In most contingency fee agreements, the lawyer agrees to represent the client, and the client agrees to pay the lawyer a percentage of the money obtained on behalf of the client. This money may be recovered through a settlement before or after a lawsuit is filed or through a verdict at trial.

The word “contingency” describes the “if” nature of the agreement. If the lawyer recovers money for you, the lawyer receives part of that money as a fee. If the lawyer recovers no money, they receive no fee. 

This arrangement allows people seeking Charleston workers’ compensation lawyers, personal injury lawyers, and other legal assistance to receive the representation they need without paying out of pocket. 

How Does a Contingency Fee Arrangement With a Lawyer Work in South Carolina?

When a personal injury lawyer represents you under a contingency fee arrangement, you do not pay the lawyer an hourly rate. You do not receive any bills for the lawyer’s work until the very end when the attorney will provide you a list of expenses they extended on your behalf while working on your case. 

Instead, the lawyer gets paid only if they fight for your case and reach a desirable settlement or go to trial. Your lawyer then deducts their fee and any other additional costs from the total money received for your case. You then receive the remaining balance from the case. If your settlement amounts to $0, your lawyer also receives $0 in fees. In addition, your attorney has extended money on your behalf that they will not get back. 

Contingency fee agreements are typically available for the following types of claims:

• Personal Injury
• Workers’ Compensation
• Auto Accident
• Product Liability
• Truck Wreck
• Pedestrian Accidents
• Motorcycle
• Premises Liability and Slip, Trip and Falls

South Carolina law prohibits contingency fee agreements for domestic relations (divorce, custody, etc.) and criminal cases, but contingency fee agreements are possible for most other cases. To learn more about whether you can hire a lawyer under a contingency fee agreement, talk to an experienced Charleston injury lawyer today. 

No Risk to Clients

Under a contingency fee agreement, your risk is low. You don’t have to pay attorney’s fees out of pocket. Either the fee will come from any money recovered in your case, or the fee will be $0. Any costs related to your case, like paying for postage to file legal documents, are typically quite low. If you’re concerned about these costs, contact a Charleston accident and injury lawyer to ask what to expect in your case. 

Under a contingency fee agreement, most of the financial risk belongs to the lawyer. Your Charleston attorney must settle your case to receive payment for their work. As a result, contingency fee agreements encourage attorneys to take cases in which they believe they can obtain a successful settlement amount for their clients. 

In complex cases, such as multiple vehicle crashes with serious, lifelong injuries, your attorney may need to incur a variety of expenses on your behalf to present the best case possible. This may include hiring doctors to testify on your behalf, accident reconstruction experts, and financial projection experts. Again, you will not pay anything for this unless and until we secure compensation for you in your case.

What Happens After Your Lawsuit Settles or You Win?

Securing financial compensation in your case typically happens in one of two ways: Your lawyer may succeed at a settlement negotiation or win a court case at trial. In both scenarios, you may receive compensation for medical bills, lost wages, and other losses you suffered. 

Your contingency fee agreement states what your lawyer will receive 一 the fixed percentage that was agreed upon between you and your lawyer. Whatever amount of money you are awarded determines the amount your lawyer receives for their legal work. Fees range from approximately one-third if your case settles without going to court to a bit more if your case goes to court due to the additional time required for depositions, witness preparation, and document preparation.

In addition to the attorney’s percentage, you may be asked to pay the costs of your case which were incurred in order to bring a strong case forward. Costs are separate from fees. They include items that every court case requires, like:

• Filing fees and court costs
• Process server fees
• Expert witnesses fees
• Deposition and transcript costs
• Hotel and travel costs

The contingency fee agreement between you and your lawyer will explain exactly which costs you may need to pay. It will also explain how those costs should be calculated and deducted from your settlement or verdict.

Hiring a Personal Injury Attorney

Lawsuits are lengthy and complex. The cost to litigate a case can be high. Yet, you don’t have to pay this amount out of pocket. If you need a lawyer but fear you can’t afford one, contact the Steinberg Law Firm at (843) 720-2800 for a free consultation with an experienced South Carolina attorney. If your case qualifies for a contingency fee agreement, you will pay no fee unless we win. That’s our promise to you.