Q. HOW DO CONTINGENCY FEES WORK?
A. Almost all seriously injured or financially damaged people cannot afford to pay lawyers $250 - $700 per hour like insurance companies and large corporations do. BIREN/KATZMAN believes that seriously injured or financially damaged plaintiffs (people bringing suit) should be able to participate in the legal process on fair footing, even though they cannot afford to pay hourly fees. Accordingly, BIREN/KATZMAN will usually agree to work on a contingency fee basis, where rather than charging hourly fees, the firm will take its fee as a percentage of their client's recovery; if no recovery is made, the client does not have to pay anything for the legal services rendered by the firm.

Q. WHAT PERCENTAGE WILL I HAVE TO PAY AS A CONTINGENCY FEE?
A. BIREN/KATZMAN does not have a set contingency fee rate. The rate the firm is willing to work for on any given matter depends on the type of case (some cases, like medical malpractice, have statutory fee schedules), the complexity of the case, the stage in the litigation where we are contacted and numerous other factors. Generally, the firm's fees range from 33.33% for the least complex pre-trial matters to 45% for complex cases which are set for trial.

Q. WILL I HAVE TO PAY LITIGATION COSTS? HOW MUCH WILL LITIGATION COSTS RUN?
A. Litigation is expensive. In order for a case to be handled properly, there are a host of costs for such things as investigation, copying documents, witness fees, transcript fees, retention of expert witnesses, exhibit preparation, jury fees and countless other necessary preparatory expenses. There is no way to estimate in advance how much these costs will total, because every case is different and, of course, the earlier in the process that the case is resolved, the less the costs are likely to be. BIREN/KATZMAN always endeavors to keep the litigation costs spent on a case in proportion to the anticipated recovery.

On most personal injury cases, BIREN/KATZMAN will advance these costs for the client. In the unlikely event that no recovery is made, the client does not have to repay the advanced costs. If a recovery is made, the client is required to repay the costs from his/her share of the recovery.

Q HOW MUCH IS MY CASE WORTH?
A. Every case is unique. The liability is never exactly the same in any two cases, even if it seems that the accidents are similar. Even if two people have similar injuries, they are never exactly the same; nor is the effect of the injuries on them.

There is no formula for determining the value of a case. Many factors influence values, including:

• The strength of the evidence establishing liability and/or the other party's defenses.
• The nature and extent of the damages.
• The jurisdiction where the case is pending (some are much more conservative than others and this affects the value of the case).
• Countless other intangible factors which differ from case to case.

BIREN/KATZMAN's policy is never to give a client or prospective client an evaluation of their case until the firm has had an opportunity to fully evaluate all of the relevant factors. Usually, this means that the value cannot be determined until well after the firm has become involved in the case and has had an opportunity to accumulate the information necessary to make an appropriate evaluation.

WARNING: Be leery of any lawyer or firm that claims that they can evaluate your case based on partial information. Anyone can state inflated values which have no tie to reality. Honest, qualified lawyers like BIREN/KATZMAN will not make empty promises, but will only give evaluations when they have enough information to back them up.

Q. AM I BETTER OFF SETTLING MY CASE OR TAKING IT TO TRIAL?
A. More than 90 percent of lawsuits settle. The reason is simple, because both sides realize that they may lose at trial and are willing to compromise in order to avoid the risks inherent in trial. In almost every case settling means accepting less than the potential recovery you could make at trial if everything goes perfectly. On the other hand, a settlement guarantees a recovery and avoids the disaster that could occur if everything goes wrong at trial.

You should always settle if you can be guaranteed a substantial enough percentage of the possible recovery you could make at trial! On the other hand, THE ONLY TIME YOU WILL RECEIVE A FAIR SETTLEMENT IS WHEN THE OTHER SIDE KNOWS THAT YOUR LAWYER IS PREPARED AND WILLING TO GO TO TRIAL!

In every case there is an optimum time to engage in settlement negotiations. That time cannot be predicted in advance, because it is dependent on literally hundreds of factors which are unique to each case. Based on their experience, BIREN/KATZMAN will know when the right time to start settlement negotiations is.

More importantly, when a settlement offer is made, you need to balance what the settlement offers in hand against what you might recover if you decide to proceed further with the case. BIREN/KATZMAN will honestly spell out the information you need in order to evaluate the settlement offer:

• How much will I net out of the settlement. (You should not care what the large number is; only how much you will realize after fees, costs and other deductions.)
• If we reject this offer is it likely that there will be a higher offer made later? Will I net more if there is a higher offer?
• If I reject this offer, what are my prospects at trial?

Ultimately, because it is your lawsuit, you will be the one who decides whether to settle or push forward, depending on your own risk vs. benefit analysis.

Contact BIREN/KATZMAN  for a free consultation about cases in any of our practice areas; your recovery could begin today.

• How to Hire the Right Attorney
• Attorney Referral Fees