What If I Can’t Afford A Personal Injury Lawyer?

If you are involved in an accident with injury, one of the first places your mind tends to go is how it will affect your finances. Not only will the medical bills start piling up, but if the injuries force you to miss time away from work or render you unable to work, you’re going to start to wonder how you’ll be able to stay afloat financially. When you add in the prospect of paying an attorney to help with your injury case, many people start to wonder if they can save some money by filing their case on their own or if free legal services are available based on their unique situation. In today’s blog, we take a closer look at your options if you don’t believe that you can afford a personal injury lawyer for your Minnesota injury lawsuit.

I Can’t Afford My Injury Attorney

Most people assume that all lawyers are expensive, and many of them do charge high hourly fees because of the expertise and service they can provide. However, personal injury law doesn’t operate in the same manner as, say, a criminal defense lawyer. While a criminal defense lawyer may ask for $3,000 up front as part of a retainer that they’ll take from when they bill for services, personal injury lawyers operate on a contingency fee.

A contingency fee means that they will take a percentage of the winnings you earn from the case as payment, and they will not bill you in the event you lose your case. In other words, there’s a high probability that you can actually afford to hire a personal injury lawyer to help with your case because they will only charge you if you win, and when that happens, the fee will come out of the winnings they were able to attain. So if you think you cannot afford to add to your expenses by hiring a personal injury lawyer after an accident, know that you’d only be paying them with profits.

Not only that, but because a personal injury lawyer can typically get you a much larger settlement or award than you could procure on your own, in many instances a personal injury lawyer ends up paying for their services and then some. Not only could you have an expert handle all the complex aspects of your case, but you could actually end up taking home a lot more money because of it. It’s a win-win!

As for the contingency fee itself, most lawyers charge a one-third contingency fee in Minnesota, meaning you’ll take home two-thirds of your award amount while your lawyer will get one-third. So let’s say you earned a $25,000 settlement on your own, but had you had a lawyer by your side, they could have helped you receive $50,000. Even after the lawyer takes their one-third cut, you’re still taking home over $33,000, much more than what you secured in the first scenario.

Finally, there are very rare scenarios where you may be able to have a lawyer take your personal injury case for free. Although personal injury cases are generally not accepted by Minnesota Legal Aid, some injuries that are a result of nursing home or domestic abuse may qualify for legal assistance. Your typical car accident or slip and fall claim would not be eligible, but certain abuse situations could qualify, so check out that link if you believe you may qualify. That being said, going with a personal injury lawyer who only works these types of cases may be a much better option than what you could find for free, especially considering how the contingency fee means that your personal injury lawyer has a vested interest in getting you the biggest award possible, because it means they’ll also take home more.

If you’re concerned about finances after a personal injury accident, know that Dean and the team at Margolis Law Firm want to help provide you with financial security by getting you the largest award possible. We operate on a contingency fee, so you won’t rack up additional bills with us, and we’ll work to make your payday as big as possible so that we too can earn a healthy amount. For more information or for help with your case, reach out to Dean Margolis today at (952) 230-2700.