Understand Costs Before Hiring A Birth Injury Attorney…

Sometimes we have individuals who contact us who are “shopping” around when it comes to hiring a birth injury attorney. During these conversations it is also interesting to hear some of the things which are on the minds of parents who are looking for the right attorney, or law firm to help their family in what has been described to me as a “trying times.” This can be because of all that is usually happening during the baby’s early start at life.

With the above stated, there are somethings that are important for a family to understand when looking to hire a birth injury attorney. As the title says, understand costs before hiring a birth injury attorney.

THE CONTINGENCY FEE AGREEMENT

Understanding costs before hiring a birth injury attorney happens in many cases in conjunction with the contingency fee agreement (ask the attorney who you are thinking of hiring do they use contingency fee agreements in cases like these, as different attorney/law firms might handle these cases a different way). In its most basic sense, a contingency fee agreement is one in which the client and attorney agree that the attorney will collect their legal fee at the conclusion of the case. This can be either through a settlement of the case, or through a jury verdict or judgment. Costs, which are explained below, will also usually be covered by the contingency fee agreement.

One of the benefits to the contingency fee agreement is that it allows for a family to prosecute their case without having to pay the attorney by the hour, as is done in many other types of legal work. Since birth injury cases can sometimes take years to complete, using an hourly rate may not be something that a family can afford to do, especially when attorneys can have hourly rates of well over 300 dollars an hour. For many families, this is just not a viable option.

UNDERSTAND COSTS BEFORE HIRING A BIRTH INJURY ATTORNEY

Costs will also usually be covered in the contingency fee agreement. Costs, in the context of the article can cover many things. For example, hiring medical experts can be noted as costs. Paying for depositions to be taken are another example of costs…filing fees, etc.…. These things, and more can be categorized as costs.

The reason why you want to understand costs before hiring a birth injury attorney is because you want to know will you be responsible for paying costs if you are not successful with your case? In some cases, the attorney may say that you must pay us back costs, regardless of whether you win or lose your case. In the area of birth injury, costs can be expensive because of requirements that the law places on this area of practice. For example, you must have medical experts in birth injury cases because the law requires that medical experts must explain the standard of care, and whether there was a departure from the standard of care which caused the injury. Attorneys will usually put up the money for these types of experts at the start of the case for the case to move forward.

I am sure that you can now see why you want to know before you sign up with an attorney or law firm how costs will be handled in your case. What you do not want to happen is that you get deep into the process, after signing a contract with an attorney and law firm and realize that you did not truly understand all of the terms and conditions within the contract.

Remember, you can always have the attorney to explain and put down in writing what certain things mean if you are having trouble understanding certain points in the agreement. In sum, you want to understand costs before hiring a birth injury attorney.

Marcus B. Boston, Esq.
Boston Law Group, LLC
2 Wisconsin Circle, Suite 700
Chevy Chase, Maryland 20815
bostonlawllc.com
301-850-4832
1-833-4 BABY HELP

Attorney…