Hiring a personal injury lawyer in British Columbia should not have to be a guessing game, especially when it comes to legal fees. That is why the Law Society strictly controls how much a lawyer gets for his or her percentage legal fees. The median or average percentage is set organically by the marketplace and is often thought to be one-third of the award or recovery (See: Expertise and Contingent Fees: The Role of Asymmetric Information in Attorney Compensation JLEO V9 N2). I am however unaware of any rigorous study on the subject in British Columbia and legal fees are still very much associated with the lawyers knowledge and experience.
From my own personal experience as a personal injury lawyer in British Columbia I commonly see agreements in which the lawyer is paid 33 1/3% for a car accident injury case and agrees not be paid if there is no money recovery. Fee percentages higher than one-third are usually reserved for medical negligence and slip and fall cases, again anecdotal. Fees lower than one-third, that is 25% and 30%, are much less common and in my experience I have rarely come across a lawyer that can afford to offer legal fees lower than twenty-five percent of settlement or court award, dependant upon the anticipated outcome.
I have written much on the subject of hiring personal injury lawyers so read on and for more background watch my short video about average contingency fee agreements and how personal injury lawyers get paid.
Posted by Personal Injury Lawyer Mr. Renn A. Holness, B.A., LL.B.
