How Much Do Employment Lawyers Cost

When you’re considering suing your employer, it’s likely you’ll want to hire an employment lawyer. If so, it’s important to evaluate and assess the costs and fees associated with your employment law case.

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Although the costs vary from case to case in the employment law context, there are certain charges that apply to a majority of them. The following is a brief look at some of the charges associated with suing your employer:

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Hourly Rate. Different employment lawyers have different fees. It is not uncommon for an experienced employment lawyer to charge $400+ to $500+ per billable hour. Honestly, no one wants to retain an employment lawyer on an hourly fee if other payment method are available for a particular employment law case. But some employment law cases are simply too complex or the risk of losing is too high that calls for an hourly fees arrangement. On the other hand, if you are an employer, you will probably be charged a hourly rate for your Employment Lawsuit. You want to make sure you know what you are getting into, and have a full appreciation of what services you are being charged for, and what are all the costs, and you want to make sure there’s no hidden fee. The last thing you want is to have a BIG SURPRISE when you receive your first lawyer bill from your employment attorney.

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Flat Rate Fees. Sometimes, you may just want to send a demand letter to your employer, or retain an employment lawyer to negotiate for better terms for an employment law settlement. Or you might want an employment law second opinion from a different employment lawyer to see whether your employment lawyer is doing a good job. In that case, you might want to negotiate for a Flat Rate deal in advance, so that you know how much it’s going to cost you at the end of the day. But Flat Rate bundle is only available in certain scenarios and not all employment lawyers accept a flat rate fee arrangement.

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Limited Scope Retainer. A limited scope retainer is something in between. In this arrangement, the involvement of the employment lawyer is the case is limited in scope. The employment lawyer agrees on the scope of legal representation setting out specific legal tasks that he or she will perform, but the overall responsibility for the case is handled by the client. Sometimes, an employment lawyer might want to represent a client on an employment law matter up to and until the settlement stage or a legal matter might involves aspects of employment law, corporate law and family law, and he or she is only representing the client on the employment law aspect of the case. It’s common that a limited scope retainer is used in conjunction with other payment arrangements.

 

Contingency fees. A contingency fee arrangement is a no-win-no-fee arrangement. This fee arrangement allows clients to pay only if the employment lawyer wins the case. Payment is made as a percentage of the damages recovered—usually 30 percent to 40 percent plus disbursement depending on the nature of the case, and the level of risk the employment lawyer has to undertake. Disbursement are out-of-pocket expenses such as Court fee, filing fee, photocopying, mailing, etc…. Contingency fee arrangement are frequently used in conjunction of a limited scope retainer to limit the risk of loss of the employment lawyer. For instance, an employment lawyer might agree to accept a no-win-no-fee contingency agreement where the client don’t have to pay a dime, with a limited scope representation that the employment lawyer will represent the client up to and until the settlement stage of the case.

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Click here to learn more about different types of free arrangements.