Evolution of Attorney Fees in the United States
In the 17th Century, most states capped legal fees based on the attorney’s area of practice. For example, there would be a cap for divorce, a cap for real estate transactions and a cap for criminal representation. Attorneys would therefore have to compete heavily for clients based on their skills because it wasn’t easy for an attorney that charged less than the cap to make a living. That’s why attorneys lobbied heavily for additional fee options and developed innovative ways to make more money. Most Queens accident attorneys use a contingency retainer, so you don’t have to pay anything until you collect money making it possible for even the poorest injury victim to obtain representation. The Rise of the Contingency Fee A Queens catastrophic injury attorney may need to spend hundreds of hours on a case, making the cost of representation unaffordable by most injury victims without a contingency fee arrangement. That’s why the legal profession developed what they called a “success f...