In almost all bicycle crash cases, like in other types of personal injury cases, your attorney will be paid by keeping a percentage of the final settlement or court award resulting from your injury. The specific percentage is negotiable, and will be discussed with you at the beginning of your case. While rates are not set by law, it is very common for lawyers to charge a contingency fee of one-third of the total settlement if a settlement is reached before a lawsuit is filed, and forty percent of the settlement or court award if it is reached after a lawsuit is filed. Under California law, a contingency fee agreement must be in writing. This agreement will provide that your lawyer will work diligently on your case in exchange for the percentage of the settlement outlined in the agreement, as well as setting forth other terms such as how case costs will be handled. Since payment is out of the eventual settlement or judgment and no payment is required to the attorney during the course of the case, contingency fee agreements allow people who would otherwise not be able to afford an attorney to bring their case. Contingency fee agreements also align the attorney’s and client’s interests, since the attorney will not get paid unless and until they win the case, and the more settlement money they secure for the client, the more they will get paid.
