Types of Fee Structures Used By Lawyers In Ontario

Not every lawyer in Ontario takes on the same sort of case. Consequently, the lawyers in Ontario use one of 3 different types of fee structures.

Flat fee

This is the structure used by injury lawyers in Collingwood that help their clients to deal with completion of a legal transaction. That might involve writing a will, establishing a corporation or composing some other legal document. The structured charge covers the cost of both the lawyer’s services and any disbursements.

Hourly rate

A family attorney in Ontario normally incorporates an hourly rate charge into his or her payment structure. Still, clients have little hope for obtaining any sort of quote. The attorney’s experience does not allow him or her to anticipate the number of hours that must be devoted to a given case.

Moreover, the amount charged a given client seldom reflects the experience level of the client’s legal counsel. Frequently, a firm uses this structure, and then assigns cases to interns.

Contingency fee

Personal injury lawyers use this structure. It does not include a retainer, because it anticipates a recovery. The client does not pay a cent until after the lawyer’s share of the settlement has been delivered to that member of the legal community.

Although clients do not have to pay a retainer, they do get hit with other charges. Each client is responsible for an attorney’s out-of-pocket costs. In addition, those same clients get hit with another cost, if they live in Ontario.
That added cost comes from the HST charge. That charge accounts for the removal of an added 13% from what has been awarded to a given plaintiff. That 13% deduction then gets added to the lawyer’s payment.

Of the available fees, which is the best?

No one fee’s structure is better than any of the others. Each of the structures matches with the needs of the lawyers and clients that use it. Contingency fees get structured into the method for charging a client with a personal injury attorney.

The client does not owe any up-front payment. That feature aids with development of a case for an injured victim, someone that has suffered a financial loss. Still, clients with severe injuries do not have to pay an added amount of money.

Moreover, no client gets charged extra for a lawyer’s need to perform of an added amount of research. Furthermore, no client gets charged more for the chance to work with a highly experienced lawyer. Those 2 features manage to showcase the reason that accident victims welcome the fee-creation approach that gets used by a personal injury attorney. It eases the financial burden that gets placed on a client, one that has already suffered some sort of financial loss.