What is a contingency agreement?

 
When you see a lawyer advertise “We work on a no-fee-until-you-win basis”, what does this mean? At our law firm, in many cases,  we work on contingency based on the following.
 
Being in an accident is difficult and stressful. Hiring a lawyer can be an intimidating thing to do. Most people understand lawyers to be expensive and hear of lawyers charging exorbitant legal fees. Affording a lawyer is something that many people can not do. However, most people will need a lawyer at some point in their life.  What if you cannot afford to pay a lawyer their usual hourly rates ($250-$500 per hour)?
 
Personal injury lawyers recognize that for most people, legal fees are not affordable. Lawyers who focus on personal injury cases have developed alternative billing structures to deal with this problem. Contingency fees are among those options. 
 
So what are contingency fees / agreement? A contingency agreement is a contract signed by the client and their lawyer agreeing to a payment based on a percentage of the settlement amount obtained.  This means that you do not need to pay legal fees until your case is won. if you get money, your lawyer will get money. If you do not get anything, then your lawyer also does not get anything. The amount of the contingency in that agreement must be considered fair and reasonable. Lawyers generally charge between 20 and 40% of the settlement amount. We charge 30%.
 
Contingency agreements are not new and they have been around for a while. It offers injury victims access to reputable and experienced injury lawyers. By agreeing to get paid only if your case settles or won at trial, we accept great risk and in essence share the risk on the file with our clients. We believe that this provides our clients with access to the justice system for most people who could not otherwise afford to hire a lawyer to advance their injury claims.
 
The Law Society of Upper Canada has rules on the application of contingency fees (see LSUC: http://www.lsuc.on.ca/ContingencyFees/). 
Contingency fees are now very common in personal injury cases. They allow injury victims to afford good counsel 
 
Our Ottawa personal injury and accident lawyers handle all types of injury cases such as slip and falls, motor vehicle accidents and personal injury cases on a contingency basis. If you or someone you care about was injured in an accident, please contact one of our lawyers for a free consultation. We work on a no-fee-until-you-win basis. Call us at 613-315-4878. Marc Quinn, Ottawa accident and injury lawyer accepting clients on contingency fee arrangement basis.