QUESTION
I will be filing a civil lawsuit shortly in NY state, and after doing much research regarding legal fees,
Asked on May 01st, 2013 on Civil Litigation - New York
More details to this question:
I will be filing a civil lawsuit shortly in NY state, and after doing much research regarding legal fees, I rather not do hourly billing for a variety of different reasons. A potential lawyer I was hoping to retain who I worked with previously and who I would be the most comfortable with, has offered hourly billing. I have been exploring options re alternate fee arrangements and was inquiring, would be possible to pay him a large amount as a flat fee, such as $25,000 and partial contingency (in addition to the flat fee) instead of hourly billing? In your opinion would this be a reasonable viable offer, or if not could you provide me with some feedback as to what would be? Due to statute of limitations, I must file prior to July 27th 2013. Thanks so much!
2 ANSWERS
1 Award
It would depend on the type of case and the amount of hours that the lawyer would expect to work on the case.
Answered on May 01st, 2013 at 11:18 PM
With some restrictions, you can make any arrangement you want with your attorney, but both of you have to agree on it. It is not unusual to have a flat fee plus contingency arrangement, but there is no way to advise you as to whether it is a "reasonable viable offer" in this case. That depends on many factors which you do not mention, such as the complexity of the case, how much work is involved, how likely is it that the case will settle quickly, how much is the likely recovery, how solvent is the defendant etc. Of course, whether you or I think that the arrangement you are offering is reasonable is not important; it only matters if the attorney is willing to take the case on that basis. Without knowing any of these things, I can only tell you that $25,000 would be used up quickly in any litigation of any complexity, and the attorney would only be willing to accept your arrangement if he thought there was a good chance of a sizeable recovery.
Answered on May 01st, 2013 at 6:52 PM