Hagedorn Law Firm offers free 20-minute consultations to discuss your legal issues. CLICK HERE to send a consultation request to Adam.

There are many factors to consider when hiring an attorney. Experience and knowledge are the most important factors, but how your attorney listens to and interacts with you is also vital.

Creating a bond of respect and trust is key to this entire process. Even when optimal outcomes are reached, clients are often put through a stressful and potentially expensive time of life. It’s important to find a lawyer who respects and understands that so that they can minimize the disruption to your life.

Contact the Hagedorn Law Firm today to see if we are a good fit.

Attorneys are paid in several ways and there is no one size fits all approach to our fee system. A variety of factors need to be considered, such as if you are actively being sued, chances of success, financial ability to pay, amount at issue, ethical rules, etc.

Each case is different so, below are three common ways we attorneys are paid:

1. Hourly. The traditional way attorneys get paid is on an hourly basis. That is a set dollar amount billed per hour and invoiced to the client in fractions of the hour. For example, drafting a detailed email to opposing counsel could be billed at 12 minutes, but a summary judgment could be billed at 6 hours. Please note: these are hypotheticals and have no relation to the actual time it may take to perform these services.
   

2. Contingency. Contingency fees are where an attorney takes a set percentage of all the money recovered for a client.  So for example, if you hire an attorney on a 35% contingency free rate, and you recover $100,000 from the company, the attorney’s fee is $35,000. If, however, no money is recovered, then you owe no fee to the attorney. Whether you owe for expenses will be set forth in the engagement letter. Please note: these are hypotheticals and have no relation to the amount of money you may recover or expense you may pay in your case.
   

3. Flat Fee. A flat fee is where an attorney agrees to handle your case for a set price, paid up front. Usually, this type of arrangement makes sense if an attorney is performing transactional work, like writing a contract, will, deed, trust, etc. The flat fee amount varies depending on the complexity of the issue.
   

4. Hybrid.Hybrid fee arrangements may be subject to ethical rules, but could include a mix of contingency and hourly, hourly and flat, or flat and contingency.

The short answer is probably not. In most civil cases, absent a statute or contract provision, each side is responsible for their own attorney fees and cannot shift their fees to the other side.  This is called “The American Rule.”

Each case has its own issues and it is always worth exploring whether your attorney fees will be reimbursed by the other side.  Simply to manage expectations, however, fee shifting is more rare than common.