Personal injury attorney fees are billed on either an hourly fee basis or on a contingency fee basis and the client can choose between the two.  The contingency fee is a percentage of the net* monetary recovery.  It is paid to the attorney only if there is a recovery.  If the case is unsuccessful, then there will be no attorney fee and the attorney earns nothing.  The vast majority of personal injury cases are handled on a contingency fee basis. 

Our court system sets limits on contingent attorney fees in Michigan.  Attorneys are allowed to charge any percentage amount up to a maximum of one third of the total net* recovery.  The client is responsible for paying the costs of litigation, but the attorney is allowed to advance these costs to the client during the course of litigation.  Our office policy is to advance costs for each of our personal injury clients.  Some firms charge interest on the amount advanced to the client - our firm does not.

The actual percentage amount of any contingency fee to be charged to the client can only be arrived at after evaluating each case.  Among the factors to be considered in setting the contingency fee are: what is the potential amount of recovery,  what is the likelihood of success, what is the degree of difficulty of the case, how much attorney time and staff time will be required, etc.

All of these factors will be discussed with the client at the first meeting with the attorney to arrive at a fair contingency fee percentage.  If the client prefers hourly billing, that fee will also be determined at the first attorney-client meeting.  We accept payment by all major credit cards.

*net amount is arrived at by deducting the out-of-pocket costs of litigation such as the cost for medical records, expert investigators, deposition transcript fees, court filing fees, etc., from the gross amount of recovery.