Posts Tagged ‘Contingency Fees’

Seminar Discussing Mechanic Liens & Construction Contingency Fees

On September 16, 2010        

In the past, I’ve written about both contingency fees and mechanic liens.   I think both of these topics are extremely interesting for the construction industry, and specifically for those interested in construction legal issues.

While I don’t usually post about upcoming seminars I’m uninvolved with, I do think it’s worth mentioning an upcoming “Southern Region Meeting” sponsored by the Commercial Law League of America.   The meeting is February 24-26, 2011 at the Royal Sonesta Hotel in New Orleans, and on the program for construction law topics are these two great topics.   Specifically:

Contingent Fee Based Complex Commercial Litigation (Ist It Willy Wonka or the Wizard of Oz?) &

Enforcing and Litigating Mechanic Lien Rights

You can read the Construction Law Programming summaries here at the Construction Law Monitor.   Should be a very interesting talk on these two topics.   With all the hoopla about alternative fees, I’m especially interested in the Contingent Fee presentation.

Here is a snippet (from the CLLA website) about the Commercial Law League of America:

The Commercial Law League of America (“CLLA”) is a respected organization of attorneys and other experts in credit and finance actively engaged in the field of commercial law, bankruptcy and insolvency. Since 1895, The CLLA has been associated with the representation of creditor interests, while at the same time seeking fair, equitable and efficient administration of bankruptcy cases for all parties in interest.

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100% of Nothing is Nothing: Justifying the Contingency Fee

On November 16, 2009        

What is contingency fee?

Here is the definition:

A method of paying a lawyer for legal representation by which, instead of an hourly or per job fee, the lawyer receives a percentage of the money her client obtains after settling or winning a case.  Often contingency fee agreements award the successful lawyer between 20% and 50% of the amount recovered [read definition on wikipedia].

In plain english, you attorney works on a “contingent” basis, meaning the attorney’s payment is dependent on the outcome of the case.  If you recover money, the attorney gets a percentage of the recovery.  If nothing is recovered, you pay nothing in fees.

What’s Good About Contingency Fees?

For the client, contingency fees have many positives.

The cash-flow impact of litigation is substantially lower, you gain leverage over the other party who needs cash flow to fund the case, and a portion of the case’s risk is transferred and borne by your attorney.

The only “negative” of a contingency fee is that the fee can be substantial. When a recovery is made, the attorney fee is usually between 30-45% of the amount recovered. But, as we’re about to explain, this really isn’t as bad as it sounds.

100% of Nothing is Nothing

For the client, contingency fees have many positives.

The cash-flow impact of litigation is substantially lower, you gain leverage over the other party who needs cash flow to fund the case, and a portion of the case’s risk is transferred and borne by your attorney.

The only “negative” of a contingency fee is that the fee can be substantial. When a recovery is made, the attorney fee is usually between 30-45% of the amount recovered. But, as we’re about to explain, this really isn’t as bad as it sounds.

WLG Loves Contingency Fees

We love representing clients on a contingent fee basis for one very important reason: We can more zealously represent our clients.

When clients are billed for fees, it’s inevitable that bills will be challenged and cash crunches will arise. This effects how our firm can represent a client.

If $10,000 in discovery motions are needed, for example, but the client can’t afford it, the client’s claim is weakened.

Contingency fees result in more aggressive litigation…which results in higher settlements and more successful trials.

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