Lawyers handle fairly complicated job. Therefore, you need to expect to pay them a good amount of money for the case they handle for you. You may pay your lawyer in hourly rates, flat or contingent fees.
How Much Is The Cost?
The national average billing rate of a lawyer is $284 per hour.
Law firms with 2 to 8 lawyers have $262 per hour average national rate.
The most common arrangement to pay your lawyer is with hourly rate. The rates can be different depending on the lawyer’s experience, location, operating expenses and the type of the case. Rates vary from $50 to $1,000 per hour according to Lawyers.comIn rural areas well experienced lawyers may charge between $100 to $200 while in most urban and metropolitan areas, a lawyer may cost $200 to $400.
Flat fees may apply for cases such as divorce, bankruptcy and wills. Your cost for such cases may range from $2,500 to $20,000.
You can arrange a contingent based agreement with your lawyer for cases like personal injury and debt cases. In this type of arrangement the lawyer gets paid when your case wins. A typical payment for this is around 1/3 of the settlement or money. But, it only depends on your agreement.
Some Questions You Need To Ask Your Lawyer
Before you make any move with your lawyer ask whatever question you have in mind. Here are some of the questions you need to ask.
What is the process for my case?
How long will my case take?
How much should I pay and in what kind of arrangement? (Hourly, flat or contingent fees)
How do I pay you?
What are the documents needed?
What is the outcome of my case?
How Can You Save Money?
If you can’t afford to pay for an attorney, your state will arrange you one with minimal or no cost at all. However, the risk is you may not find very high quality lawyers.
Look for lawyers around your area from Legalmatch.com It is one of nation’s biggest service providers that helps you find a good lawyer. You may find lawyers who can handle your case at relatively lower prices.
Lawyers working in big law firms are more expensive than those who work in small firms. Look for lawyers who work in small or medium law firms.