in the state of new york um
because that’s the state where i
practice we usually um
do a contingency retainer for a personal
injury case which means that
you do not pay us anything up front we
only get recovery from your settlement
if we actually win
you some funds
and that is usually one-third uh it
depends whether it’s a per it’s a
personal injury case or whether it’s a
medical malpractice case because in
personal injury cases it’s 33 percent
and in medical malpractice it’s 30
on top of that we are allowed by law to
deduct the costs of of um
litigating the case however there is an
option where clients can choose to front
the costs themselves however nobody does
that so usually what happens is the law
firm covers the costs and then the
client just pays them back at the time
when a settlement is recovered or a jury
verdict what’s important for the clients
to understand is they don’t pay anything
in the beginning um
and we we are only paid if we actually
recover something for them and the
percentages vary as i said whether it’s
personal injury or medical malpractice
we also handle medical more practice
cases and that the percentage is lower
there