How Much Do Workers’ Compensation Lawyers In Illinois Charge?
If you’ve suffered injuries while on the job in Illinois and are considering filing a workers’ compensation claim, an experienced workers’ compensation lawyer can help you with your case. Working with a workers’ compensation attorney can give you a much better chance of recovering the compensation you deserve. If you suffered a work injury, you might be worried that you cannot afford to hire an attorney to help you with your claim. You may have heard about how expensive hiring an attorney can be. Fortunately, workers’ compensation lawyers work on a contingency fee basis in Illinois. An Illinois workers’ compensation lawyer will only receive legal fees if they recover compensation for a client. In other words, in Illinois, you don’t have to pay a workers’ compensation attorney any legal fees upfront.
How Attorney Fees Work in Illinois Workers’ Compensation Cases
As already mentioned, workers’ compensation attorneys work on a contingency fee basis in Illinois. This means an attorney is only paid if you recover an out-of-court settlement or a verdict award.
But how exactly do contingency fees work? After you recover a settlement or verdict award, your workers’ compensation attorney will take a percentage of it. Usually, this is 20% of your settlement or verdict award. This percentage is set forth under the Illinois statute.
Handling Legal Costs in Workers’ Compensation Cases
You may wonder, “What about legal costs such as fees for expert witnesses?” These are separate from legal fees and are often unavoidable. So how are they handled? Some workers’ compensation attorneys will not ask you to cover expenses upfront. Some workers’ compensation lawyers cover legal costs and then recover the money from the settlement or court award. Some lawyers may even cover costs and not require you to pay them back in the event that you don’t recover benefits. On the other hand, some workers’ compensation attorneys may require that you cover legal costs upfront or pay them back even if you don’t recover benefits. Before hiring a workers’ compensation lawyer or signing a fee agreement, it is best to discuss both fees and costs with them.
Contact a Chicago Workers’ Compensation Lawyer
If you’ve been injured on the job and need help recovering the workers’ compensation benefits you deserve, contact our skilled and dedicated Chicago workers’ compensation lawyer at Connolly Injury Law.
Source:
law.cornell.edu/wex/contingency_fee
