Illinois Lawyer Referrals and Legal Guidance
Attorney Fees in Legal Malpractice Cases
People come to us for attorney referrals and legal guidance on any Illinois legal matter including legal malpractice. We have been helping people since 2001 and allow you to speak to one of our staff attorneys for free, ask questions and if needed get a recommendation to the right lawyer for your situation. If you would like our help please contact us at (312) 346-5320 or (800) 517-1614. We are based in Chicago, but are not just a resource for Cook County legal malpractice lawsuits. Rather we help people find attorney malpractice lawyers throughout Illinois.
A lot of the people that contact us about mistakes made by their lawyer have a concern as to how they will pay for suing them. This page provides a general overview as to how those fees work. If you have additional questions just let us know.
The Illinois lawyers we recommend only take legal malpractice cases on a contingency basis, meaning you only pay if your case is successful. If you lose, you pay nothing. If you win, the lawyer takes a percentage of what you get at trial or in settlement. The percentage is usually 1/3 of what is recovered, and is agreed upon by the lawyer and client at the start of the case. We always recommend getting your fee agreement in writing.
Contingency fees are a risk-reward situation for attorneys. Basically, if you are suing for a large amount of money, the lawyer receives a cut of what you get at trial or settlement. However, this isn’t necessarily easy money for your attorney. There is risk involved – if you lose, the lawyer gets paid nothing. It takes a lot of work to win a legal malpractice case and they may spend hundreds of hours and not receive a penny.
Legal malpractice cases are difficult to win because there is often a fine line between a lawyer who makes a bad judgment call and one who violates the "standard of care.” (The "standard of care" is what a reasonable attorney would have done in the same situation, and it is established by having other attorneys testify in court.) In addition to proving that the standard of care was violated, you will have to prove that if your lawyer had done things right, you would have won. Finally, you will have to prove the existence and amount of your damages, which is tricky when you lose a lawsuit about something other than money.
For example, let’s say you were injured in a car accident in which the other driver was at fault, and you were suing for reimbursement of your medical bills and compensation for pain and suffering. If that case gets dismissed because your lawyer missed the deadline for filing your lawsuit, a malpractice case would be fairly straightforward in terms of proving your lawyer messed up. It should be easy to prove that the standard of care was violated (most lawyers would not miss the deadline), and that you would have won if the mistake hadn’t been made, since the other driver was at fault. Even so, you have to prove that had he filed in time you would have won the case and what you would have recovered.
On the other hand, let’s say you lost a custody case and believe that if your attorney would have called a certain witness to testify, the judge would have ruled in your favor. Your malpractice attorney will have to prove that other custody lawyers would have called the witness and that your attorney’s failure to do so was malpractice and not just part of his or her strategy. Your malpractice lawyer would then have to show that if that witness had been called, you would have won custody, which is difficult because a judge considers a long list of factors when making a custody decision. Finally, you would have to prove your damages, which is difficult when a dollar amount isn’t involved.
Just because legal malpractice can be hard to prove, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. If you believe your lawyer committed malpractice and caused you to lose your case, we recommend that you consult with an experienced attorney. It is usually free to do so.
We can help you find the right lawyer for your situation. We know lawyers who take malpractice cases all across the state, in every county. If you need an experienced Illinois malpractice attorney, contact us at any time. Your call is free and confidential.