How Do I Pay My Lawyer

At McQuaid Injury Law, you will never owe us a penny out of your pocket.  Any payment for attorney fees or case expenses will come out of your settlement or recovery.  There are never any out of pocket expenses for you.  

Initial Consultations Are Free:

All initial consultations are free.  Even if we don’t take your case or you decide not to retain our law firm, there will be no charge.  We will give you an honest opinion of the strengths and weaknesses of your case.  From there, you can decide if you want to proceed with a personal injury claim.

All Legal Fees and Case Expenses are Paid from the Settlement, not By You:

If you decide to proceed with a personal injury claim and sign a contract with our law firm, all legal fees and case expenses will be paid out of any settlement or recovery from the at-fault party and their insurance company.  

Case Expenses:

Our law firm will advance all expenses to proceed with your case. These expenses typically involve costs to obtain copies of the police report, 911 calls, body camera footage, background searches, medical records, expert witness fees, etc.  Unlike other law firms, you will not be asked to provide a retainer or pay us anything out of your pocket.  If we take on your case, it means we believe in your claim and will advance these case expenses on your behalf.

Attorney Fees:

All attorney fees (legal fees) will also be paid out of any settlement or recovery.  Attorney fees are the compensation paid to the law firm for the time, experience, and skill of its attorneys and staff.  Attorney fees are what compensates the law firm’s employees and pays the operating expenses of the business.  

As a personal injury law firm, we operate on a “contingency fee” basis.  This means that our attorney fee is simply a percentage of the total settlement or recovery.  By using a percentage of the total recovery, this allows our law firm to shoulder all of the risk for your case and allow you to focus on your health and medical treatment without worrying about how you will pay your attorney.

Since the law firm is compensated through a percentage of your total recovery, this means that we have a shared incentive to recover as much as possible for you.  Essentially, the higher the settlement, the greater the payout.  Therefore, our law firm is driven to recover as much as possible for you and put the greatest amount of money in your pocket. 

What happens if I decide later not to proceed with a claim? 

 If you decide later that you do not want to proceed with a personal injury claim, there will be no penalty or payment expected.  As noted earlier, we assume all of the risk for your case.  We are very selective in the cases we accept and only take those that we believe in.  If we take your case, it means we believe in it enough to pay all case expenses up front.  If you decide later that you do not want to proceed with a personal injury claim, you will not owe us a penny for attorney fees or case expenses.

What happens if I decide later to go with a different law firm?

Not every match is made in heaven.  If you subsequently decide that you would like to terminate our services and hire a different law firm, you will not owe us anything out of pocket.  If the new law firm obtains a settlement on your behalf, we will often share the attorney fee and case expenses with the other firm.  For example, let’s say your case takes six months to resolve and that we represented you for three months and a different law firm represented you for three months.  We would likely split the attorney fee with the new firm 50/50.  That allows both law firms to be compensated for their time and energy from the settlement with no cost to you. 

At McQuaid Injury Law, we aim to do all of the work and bear all of the costs while you focus on your medical treatment and recovery.  You should not have to worry about how you are going to pay your lawyers or case expenses.  By working on a contingency fee basis and paying all of the case expenses up front, our law firm provides you with a no-risk approach and allows you to focus on your health and family.