Are you surprised you’ve started hearing those phrases from Legal Lingo 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0 – in, like, crazy places you’d never expect? And remember, you can always refer to our ACFW “Legal Whisperer” Glossary.
We promised another drop of legal language to familiarize yourself with and, true to our word as always, here’s Batch #4. In short order, you’ll be able to converse casually, more fluently with your legal team – or maybe wow someone at a party.
Let’s keep it going.
CFA (CONTINGENCY FEE AGREEMENT):
When you work with a lawyer on contingency, the percentage of payment is always written in your contract and comes only out of your winnings – if and when you achieve success. P.S. If you’re hiring a lawyer, always make sure you get your agreement in writing.
CONTINGENT FEE:
Also known as contingency, a contingent fee is not the same as a fixed hourly rate, flat fee, or retainer. It is a mutual payment agreement, arrived at before your case even begins, that decides the percentage of the monetary award you (the plaintiff) will receive if your legal team scores a court win or reaches a settlement. Repeat: With a contingent fee, your law firm is only paid what you agreed to pay out of your eventual monetary winnings from the lawsuit– if and when you win. End of story. Also, you must be paid before the law firm can accept their contingency fee.
In personal injury cases, where contingency fee agreements are most often used, the successful lawyer is owed a percentage of the recovery amount. Again, that percentage depends on the prior mutual agreement between you and your attorney(s) at the outset of your case.
What is astounding about this – and what we want to scream from the rooftops – is that your law firm is willing to invest years of time and money into your case with no guarantee of ever being paid — just because they believe in it (and you).
The contingency fee system, used by most plaintiff law firms and all law firms that A Case for Women works with, is the biggest leveler of justice in the United States.
COST/ EXPENSES:
When you retain an attorney, you may have questions about their fees, since many attorneys use several kinds of fee structures, including hourly (steep), contingency (free unless you win financial compensation), flat (for the whole project/ case), or retainer (an upfront “downpayment” out of your pocket).
Your lawyer will handle all of the expenses on your case while it is being litigated. He or she will keep very detailed records of things like expert witness fees, medical record retrieval fees, deposition transcripts, and court costs. At the end of the case, IF there is a settlement, the lawyer will be reimbursed for the expenses out of the settlement amount. You can always ask to review the case expenses at the end of your case.
If there is not a positive outcome then you owe no expenses just like you owe no fees for the law firms’ time.
A Case for Women only partners with lawyers who structure payment on contingency, because it is affordable to anyone and, again, unless you achieve a financial award in the outcome, you don’t owe your lawyers a dime.
REPRESENTATION:
For cases involving bodily harm – physical or psychological injury – legal representation refers to one or more attorneys who stand in your place or a loved one’s, acting on your behalf against a larger corporation or entity whose wrongdoing left you sick or wounded.
When someone is harmed by a profitable institution’s oversight (negligence), that individual is entitled to legal assistance, which can often be extremely cost prohibitive. The lawyers we work with are, however, affordable because we only work with firms that operate on contingency, meaning you either achieve success or you owe your lawyer(s) nothing. Period.
Why Let A Case for Women Help?
Because we never treat you as a number.
There is immense dignity for you in every little thing we do to help. That’s on purpose. We’ll say it 1,000 times: ACFW was established in 2015 with one mission in mind – to help empower women when they’ve been harmed by corporate entities.
Our work has, therefore, involved dozens of cases in areas stemming from these general buckets + more – sexual assault, beauty cheats, food failures, environmental catastrophes, medical wrongs, and our kids – proving that we’re about building success on success.
Contact us, 24/7/365. Because we’re all in for you. Every time.
Sources
Legal Information Institute/ LII, Cornell Law School.
Black’s Law Dictionary, Thomas Reuters.
