Without any warning, your life could be forever changed by a serious personal injury. You may suddenly find yourself badly hurt and accruing medical bills arising from an incident that wasn’t your fault. Oftentimes, the best way for accident victims to ensure that they have the economic means to recover as much as possible is to file a lawsuit seeking compensation for the damages they experienced due to the at-fault party’s negligence. When you are already stressed and overwhelmed from dealing with the aftermath of an accident, however, bringing a lawsuit can seem like an intimidating and expensive solution. Thankfully, most reputable personal injury firms take cases on a contingency fee basis. This helps to ameliorate the stress of paying upfront legal fees and makes it possible for people to sue for damages regardless of their socioeconomic status. The experienced Portsmouth personal injury attorneys at Shapiro, Washburn & Sharp can advise you throughout the personal injury process and, should your case go to court, provide you with strong legal representation. Our law firm operates on a contingency fee schedule and never charges clients for any upfront costs.
How Does a Contingency Agreement Work?
Bringing a lawsuit against the person legally liable for your damages can be costly. Exactly how much it costs to sue someone varies drastically based on certain characteristics of the case, such as the jurisdiction in which it is filed, its complexity, the fees of the firm you choose, and how long it takes to resolve. Filing the appropriate paperwork with the court, service fees, attorney retention fees, and other unforeseen costs can quickly add up.
If you were injured in an accident through no fault of your own, are unable to work, and already facing a stack of medical bills, hiring a qualified Portsmouth personal injury attorney to represent you might sound impossible, right when you need it the most. Fortunately, most respected law firms operate on a contingency fee. This means that clients don’t pay upfront fees of any kind. Instead, the firm representing them collects their payment in the form of a previously agreed-upon percentage of your total recovery. Contingency fees are an industry-standard payment arrangement between a client and their attorney in which the attorney’s collection of any legal fees is contingent on the outcome of your case. Simply put, you only owe your attorney money if they win your case.
What Are the Advantages of a Contingency Agreement?
Some of the advantages of a contingency fee arrangement include:
- Access to quality legal representation without regard to your current financial status
- Alleviates any concerns over covering the costs associated with your case. If it is successful, the costs will be taken out of your settlement or award.
- You don’t spend time and money on a case that offers no financial benefit
- It incentivizes your lawyer to work hard and invest resources and time in your case and motivates them to strive for maximum financial compensation.
Contingency agreements help victims pursue justice. The Portsmouth personal injury attorneys at Shapiro, Washburn & Sharp understand that recovering from a serious injury often involves a loss of income due to being unable to work and a steady stream of incoming medical bills. We invest in your case from the beginning and only collect fees if we recover on your behalf.
All We Do Is Injury Law
Since 1985, the Virginia personal injury law firm of Shapiro, Washburn & Sharp has been taking clients on a contingency fee basis and fighting to ensure that they recover the financial compensation they are entitled to from negligent parties. We are confident in our ability to provide you with the most skilled legal representation possible and manage your case with the care it deserves, much as we did when we won a $1.85 million settlement for the wrongful death of a motorcyclist who sustained a fatal brain injury after he was hit by a negligent truck driver. To schedule a free consultation or learn more about the advantages of contingency fees, call us at (833) 997-1774 or fill out the contact form on our website. We have offices in Portsmouth, Hampton, Virginia Beach, and Norfolk.
RELATED CONTENT
Rick Shapiro has practiced personal injury law for over 30 years in Virginia, North Carolina, and throughout the Southeastern United States. He is a Board-Certified Civil Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy (ABA Accredited) and has litigated injury cases throughout the eastern United States, including wrongful death, trucking, faulty products, railroad, and medical negligence claims. During his three-decade career, Shapiro has won client appeals before the VA Supreme Court, VA Court of Appeals, NC Supreme Court, SC Supreme Court, WV Supreme Court, TN Supreme Court, and three times before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, underscoring Shapiro’s trial achievements. In addition, he and his law firm have won settlements/verdicts in excess of $100 million. His success in and out of the courtroom is a big reason why he was named 2019 “Lawyer of the Year” in railroad law in U.S. News & World Report's Best Lawyers publication (Norfolk, VA area), and he has been named a “Best Lawyer” and “Super Lawyer” by those peer-reviewed organizations for multiple years. Rick was also named a “Leader in the Law, Class of 2022” by Virginia Lawyers Weekly (total of 33 statewide honorees consisting of lawyers and judges across Virginia). And in September 2023, Rick was selected as a recipient of the National Board of Trial Advocacy (NBTA) 2023 President’s Award. Although many nominations were submitted from across the country, Rick was just one of eight attorneys chosen by the prestigious National Board which certifies civil trial attorneys across the U.S. Rick was also recently named to Virginia Lawyers Weekly 2024 Virginia’s Go To Lawyers Medical Malpractice. The attorneys awarded this honor are nominated by their colleagues and chosen by a panel from the publication.
