A money-conscious attorney should be as intelligent in handling (and keeping control of) the costs of your personal injury case as he or she is about the law involved in your case.
That is not to say that the attorney should scrimp on all costs just to save a dime. There are certainly some costs that are necessary for your case and those that although not absolutely necessary, they are very valuable in helping to establish a strong case.
On the other hand, there are attorneys who will spend your money like it is going out of style. Yes, I said your money. Usually (depending on the language of the fee agreement you sign with your attorney) you are responsible for you case costs. This responsibility can vary. Some attorneys go as far as making you pay for your costs up front, most front the costs and then pay them out of the settlement or judgment in your case. The real split is whether or not those costs are paid by you or the attorney should there be no recovery in your case. At our office, we advance all costs and take them out of the settlement or judgment at the end of the case. If there is no recovery in the case, we pay the costs and the client owes nothing.
Ok, back to those attorneys who love to spend lots of money to work up their cases. This approach might be ok if you have a multimillion dollar case. However, if you have a normal sized case, you want to be sure your attorney is paying attention to how every dollar is spent. I have got to be frank here, but I’ve known many attorneys who are not the most savvy money managers – both with their own money, that of their law firm and most importantly their clients’ money.
The other side of the coin is that it does indeed take some financial investment to build a strong and successful personal injury case. So, you also don not want an attorney who is too cheap to pay for the necessary things for your case such as ordering your medical records and billing, paying court fees in a timely manner and even hiring a private investigator to track down that key witness that can make or break your case.
When looking for an attorney for your pedestrian, bicycle, motorcycle or auto accident case be sure to ask some questions about how they handle case costs and what their “typical” case costs look like in cases similar to yours. You might be surprised at some of the responses you get. Good luck. Go find an awesome Personal Injury Traffic Accident Lawyer who is right for you!