How Much Does It Cost To Hire An Employment Lawyer?
What is the Spitz No Fee Guarantee?
Best Employment Discrimination Lawyer Answer: Most employers have an ongoing relationship with employment law attorneys while employees need evaluate and hire an employment law firm that has the full resources and experience to go toe to toe. At Spitz, The Employee’s Law Firm, you will get the full resources of a large employment firm while also getting our No Fee Guarantee – which means that you will never have to pull even a shiny nickel out of your pocket to pay us, and we will only get paid out of any recovery that we win for our clients.
How much does it cost to see if I have a claim against the company I worked for?
Best Wrongful Termination Lawyer Answer: Nothing. Zero. Zilch. Spitz, The Employee’s Law Firm does not charge anything for the initial call with an attorney nor the initial evaluation consultation. Other employment law lawyers handle this differently than many other attorneys who charge employees as much as $1,000 or more for an initial consultation with no guarantee that they will even take the case. Unfortunately, many attorneys make a good living simply by evaluating an extra five to ten cases a week. At Spitz, the only thing the initial evaluation is intended to do is figure out if you have good claim. Because our attorneys do not charge anything for a complete legal evaluation of your claim, you have no risk or cost to find out what your legal rights are.
Recently, a client came to see us for a second opinion after paying $1,000 for an initial consultation with another Ohio attorney, who told her that she had a great case as would bill her at “only” $400 per hour. After reviewing the case, which was against the federal government, our lawyers honestly told this wrongfully fired employee that she had an above-average chance of winning, but because the case was against the federal government, which does not care about the cost of defense, the case was going to be very work intensive and take more time than usual. Moreover, because of the law that likely was violated, her damages would have been capped at just under $5,000, which the other attorney would have likely spent by the time the lawsuit was drafted and filed. This other attorney unfortunately set up a situation where the attorney received $1,000 for less than an hour of her time, at the least, or – even worse – got a client on the hook to pay an hourly fee despite not being in the employee’s real interest.
Because of our size, success and financial resources as one of the largest employees focused law firms in the United States, we don’t need to suck money out of already wronged employees like this. We make our money because we win.
How much does it cost to hire an attorney to sue my employer?
Best Employment Lawyer Answer: It should never cost an employee anything out of pocket to sue an employer for employment discrimination, harassment and wrongful termination claims based on race/color, religion, gender/sex (including pregnancy and LGBTQ+ status), national origin, age, disability, and military status. We likewise do not accept money from our clients to pursue claims based on violations of the Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”), Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) – overtime and minimum wage claims, and the anti-retaliation provisions of state Workers’ Compensation laws, including Ohio’s R.C. § 4123.90.
If your free initial consultation at Spitz, The Employee’s Law Firm reveals a viable claim, our attorneys will take the case on what is called a contingency fee contract. A contingency fee is defined as a “charged for a lawyer’s services only if the lawsuit is successful or is favorably settled out of court. Contingent fees are usually calculated as a percentage of the client’s net recovery.” Black’s Law Dictionary (11th ed. 2019). This means that we don’t get paid unless we put money in your pocket.
Contingency fees provide several huge advantages, including:
- The lawyer and the client are tied together because the better the result for the client, the better the lawyer is paid. The client can then have more trust that the attorney is motivated to get the best result.
- A contingency fee agreement allows attorneys take all actions they believe are important to appropriately prepare the case. When clients pay fees and costs upfront, the client may choose to decline certain costs, such as subpoenas, depositions, or hiring experts that would make the case more successful because the client cannot afford to do so.
- Clients have little risk. If the case is lost, the client does not owe any fees or costs to the law firm.
- It is unlikely that an attorney would take a case with little probability of succeeding while many hourly billing attorneys will tell stories to potential clients about pots of gold and unicorns at the end of the rainbow just to get them to sign up.
- The playing field becomes fairer against wealthy employers. Employers who know or learn that an employee is paying hourly often use the strategy to cause issues that run up the costs of litigation until it breaks the employee’s ability to pay. However, when the employee has engaged an attorney on a contingency fee, only the employer is paying hourly, which incentivizes settlement over unnecessary spending – this is especially true where attorneys, like Spitz, The Employee’s Law Firm, have a long history of being willing to take cases all the way to try to get a just result.
- Unlike hourly fee agreements, the attorney will not drop a client once the client is no longer able pay the high hourly rates. At Spitz, our attorneys are with you to the end of the line.
How much will an attorney charge me on an hourly basis to sue for wrongful termination?
Best Employment Lawyer Answer: Clients that elect to hire an attorney on an hourly basis with pay a rate times the amount of hours billed by the attorney. That hourly rate will depend on the location and experience of the attorney but can range from $200 to $600 per hour. The number of hours will vary depending on the complexity of the case, conflicts that arise, and the length of time it takes the case to settle or get to trial.
Because courts have awarded fees in some cases, we can provide recent and real examples of how much these types of cost. For instance, in Perez-Sosa v. Garland, 22 F.4th 312, 319 (1st Cir. 2022), a Title VII case against the United States Attorney General’s Office, there were $170,331.56 in attorneys’ fees. In Nichols v. Longo, 22 F.4th 695, 697 (7th Cir. 2022), another Title VII case, there were $774,645.50 in attorneys’ fees and costs. And in Sullivan v. Experian Info. Sols., Inc., No. CV 16-11719-MPK, 2022 WL 392848, at *14 (D. Mass. Feb. 9, 2022), there were $219,275.00 in fees and an additional $2,310.73 in costs. While some employees will get those fees back if they prevail at trial, there are many risks. Because the only way to recover attorneys’ fees and costs is to win at trial, a client can find himself or herself significantly upside down if the case is lost or even if it is settled. To that end, it becomes impossible for an employee to successfully settle a case once the attorneys’ fees exceed the worth of the case because without the attorneys’ fee award after winning at trial, the client will end up with less money than when the case started as the costs would exceed the benefit. However, should an employee elect to push forward into trial despite a good offer, the employee risks spending even more on attorneys’ fees and not getting that money back if the case is lost.
There are several additional problems with this type of hourly fee. First, most people who were just fired cannot afford to spend that kind of money. Second, these attorneys will never tell the client how much the case will cost in total, which means that a wrongfully fired employee might likely end up spending more than he or she can recover. Third, and most problematic, an attorney paid on an hourly basis has an inherent bias to have the case continue longer in order to make more money billing hourly. This creates distrust between the lawyer and the clients, who frequently wonder if every call or motion is really necessary; is the deposition taking unnecessarily long; and is the settlement recommendation good for the clients or the attorney?
How do I choose the best employment lawyer for my case?
Best Employment Lawyer Answer: The most important factor is deciding who you trust to be working for your best interest and can provide the most resources, experience, and skill. It is important to understand and ask the right questions about the expected costs and fees as well as the potential outcomes – even though an honest attorney will never guarantee a particular result and should tell you right from the start that more information will be necessary that an initial consultation to give you a fair and honest evaluation. At Spitz, The Employee’s Law Firm, we work to be the most honest and best attorneys for each of our clients.