WHAT DOES IT COST?

Good legal representation in this country is increasingly the exclusive province of the wealthy and the powerful. Every manufacturer and every insurance company has lawyers either in-house or on retainer, so that they get their questions answered instantly.

Real people, on the other hand, often don't even know a lawyer, and usually don't think about calling one until some major crisis arises.

This office charges nothing  -- zero --  for talking with people to determine if they need our help, or to see if they have a case in which we think we can help them. We do not charge for doing investigations and research to determine if we can actually help you, or for deciding whether to advise you to go forward with a case.

We charge only when we actually accomplish tangible results for you. Our fee will be a percentage of the ultimate recovery we make for you. If we don't get you a recovery, we will charge you no fees at all. And - perhaps best of all - we charge only on a flat fixed rate, and we never charge an increased fee for additional legal work (an appeal to a higher court, for example) so that (1) your fee rate never goes up and (2) you know from the start that the only way we earn more ourselves is by getting you the best result we possibly can. This way, you know at all times that our own financial interest is aligned with yours, and you never have to wonder if your lawyer is advising you to go to court, to settle, or to do something else based on his interests instead of yours.

Finally, a word on the technicalities: almost none of the people we represent could ever afford to pay the expenses of a complex lawsuit in a serious case. We routinely advance those expenses on your behalf, and hope to get them back out of the eventual recovery from the wrongdoer. Under American law it is ethically allowable to do so, on the condition that the client ultimately is obligated to repay those expenses and that the lawyer inform the client of that obligation. We do include that provision in our standard retainer agreement, because the law requires that we do so. But we fully realize that the people we represent don't have the funds to pay the often-substantial expenses of major litigation, and we have never made a claim against a client for costs.