A common question asked by individuals interested in hiring a lawyer relates to what one should expect to pay. The answer to this question is difficult because fees vary dramatically by practice area and among different lawyers within a practice area.

Types of fees: There are essentially three types of fees charged by lawyers; hourly, flat, and contingent.

• Hourly: Hourly fees are the most common in the legal profession. When agreeing to hire a lawyer to work on a certain matter the lawyer will quote an hourly rate or a number of hourly rates. Rates may vary depending on which lawyer within the firm does work on your matter. Often more experienced lawyers within the firm will charge a higher rate while younger attorneys will charge less. Moreover, in some practice areas clients will be charged an hourly rate for paralegal work. The rate the client will be paying should be clearly disclosed on the retainer agreement the client signs when hiring the firm. The retainer will often give the firm discretion to choose which attorney works on the client’s matter and the client will be billed for every hour or portion thereof accordingly. Hourly billing is attractive due to its simplicity, but on the other hand, clients are often dissatisfied by the unpredictability of the total cost of accomplishing a matter.

• Flat: Flat fees are common on many routine and predictable legal matters. They are commonly found in real estate, non-contested divorces, and some immigration matters. Under a flat fee system a client is quoted a dollar amount to handle a matter, often start to finish. Flat fees were once seldom seen outside a few select areas of law, but they are now spreading to other areas because clients can easily ascertain the cost of the representation and budget accordingly.

• Contingent: Contingent fees are generally limited to fields where bodily injury has occurred including personal injury, medical malpractice, and police misconduct matters. If a client hires an attorney on a contingent fee basis, the lawyer does not charge the client any attorney fees unless they win the case. If the attorney does win the case they will take a percentage of the winnings, usually 1/3. After the attorney takes their share the client will be responsible for paying the costs of litigation such as expert fees and the cost of deposition transcripts. Some attorney fee agreements hold clients responsible for costs win or lose, but attorneys seldom collect these costs, especially if the client is not wealthy.

Factors affecting fees: In addition to practice area and fee structure, the fee charged by an attorney also varies by geographic location, experience, reputation, and demand.

• Geographic location: The cost of an attorney’s services not only vary by fee structure and practice area, they also vary based on geographic location. As a general rule attorneys charge less in rural areas than they do in large metropolitan areas. This makes sense because large cities tend to have a higher cost of living so the lawyer must make more to support the same lifestyle. Additionally, a big city attorney typically pays higher staff salaries, higher office rental expenses, and higher costs for basic services and office supplies. Since Chicago is the biggest city in the Midwest, attorneys here charge rates substantially higher than those in surrounding metropolitan areas.

• Experience: The experience of the attorney a client chooses will often have a large impact on the rate the attorney charges. A young attorney fresh out of law school will usually charge a lower rate than an older individual with 30 years of experience under his belt. While young attorneys can often offer lower rates, the older attorney may cost less in the end because he will often spend less time researching legal issues he has dealt with before.

• Reputation and demand: An attorney’s reputation and the demand for his services are closely linked to the fee he will charge a client. If an attorney is highly regarded and chances are many people wish to hire him. An attorney will naturally raise the fee he charges if he has more potential clients than he can serve.

Fees charged in Chicago: Attorneys in Chicago usually charge between $200 and $500 per hour. Though some attorneys charge more than $500 an hour these attorneys generally work for very large firms that only service corporate clients. An individual will seldom find an attorney charging more than $500 an hour.

• Family Law: Family law attorneys mainly handle divorces, though the area includes adoptions, premarital agreements, post-divorce child support disputes, and child support proceedings involving unmarried people. A family law attorney will cost anywhere within the $200 to $500 an hour range and a client should determine the amount they will be charged prior to hiring an attorney. Though family law attorneys normally charge an hourly rate, they will often charge a flat fee for uncontested divorces and adoptions. However, clients should be aware that uncontested divorces are extremely rare and unless a divorcing couple agrees on every aspect of a divorce they will be told that they need to pay the hourly rate which will greatly exceed the cost of an uncontested divorce. A typical divorce in Chicago will cost about $3000 per side, but will be considerably more expensive if there is a child custody fight, a family owned business, a large amount of assets, or if the couple is vindictive or fights over frivolous issues.

• Personal Injury, wrongful death, police misconduct: Personal injury, wrongful death, and police misconduct cases are almost always done on contingency fee. Therefore, lawyers carefully screen the cases they accept so don’t be surprised if a number of attorneys reject your case before you find someone who accepts it. The percentage a lawyer will take will range between 20 and 40 percent of any recovery. However, 331/3 percent is far and away the most common contingency fee charged in Chicago. Though unusual, some firms will use a sliding scale where they will charge 20 percent if a matter is resolved prior to a case being filed, 331/3 percent if a case is resolved after filing but prior to trial, and 40 percent if the case goes to trial. This is the area of law I practice, if you would like your case evaluated click Here.

• Medical malpractice: Medical malpractice cases are also almost exclusively taken on contingency fee. Unlike personal injury, wrongful death, and police misconduct, medical malpractice attorney fees are limited by statute. In a medical malpractice case in Illinois, an attorney may only charge 331/3 percent of the first $150,000 recovered, 25 percent of the next $850,000 recovered, and 20 percent of any amount over $1,000,000. However, an attorney may petition for a higher fee in extraordinary circumstances.

• Immigration: Basic immigration matters are usually charged on a flat fee basis and more complicated matters are charged at an hourly rate. A basic family based immigration will usually cost between $3000 and $6000.

• Criminal: The fees charged in criminal matters vary dramatically by the severity and complicated nature of the crime the defendant has been charged with. Moreover, criminal defense attorneys often expect to be paid in advance because collecting from a defendant after the case is complete can be difficult.

• Employment: Some attorneys do employment matters on a contingency basis and others do them at an hourly rate. Additionally, some attorneys will use a hybrid of contingency and hourly rate in which they charge a low hourly rate and also collect some of any recovery. Certain employment law statutes provide for an award of attorney’s fees to the prevailing party.

• Wills and Trusts: Simple wills are often drafted for a low flat fee, generally less than $1000. More complicated estate planning is usually billed at an hourly rate.

• Real Estate: Lawyers representing clients on simple residential real estate transactions usually charge a small flat rate between $400 and $900. Complicated commercial transactions are billed at an hourly rate.

I hope this article has been helpful to those looking to hire a lawyer in Chicago. Feel free to expand upon it in the comments or contact me by clicking Here.