Attorney Fee Misconceptions

Misconception about Attorney fees

It’s probably safe to say that filing for social security disability is one of the most difficult things you can do. It likely ranks up there with marriage and moving as the most stressful things a person may take on in their life. Unlike a move or getting married, there is a lot of uncertainty that comes with pursuing a claim for social security. This is especially true if an individual has filed a claim and can’t work because of their disability. You’re looking at months without an income, and you may be nervous about how you will pay your bills. We understand that difficulty. We’ve been representing clients for more than 20 years. And unfortunately, we have seen the wait for benefits increase.

As a law firm, we work hard to get our clients their benefits as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, we can’t speed up the process. It’s beyond our control. However, since our compensation is based on back pay, some people assume that we will drag a case out to make more money. That’s not true. In all honesty, it makes a lot more sense for us to get our clients approved as quickly as possible. Let’s look at a few reasons why it makes no sense for us to wait.

1. Our fee is a contingency fee. Simply, a contingency fee means that we only win if you get approved. So, the quicker we get a client of ours approved, the quicker we get paid. However, if we are not successful in your case, we don’t charge any attorney fees. So, if we aren’t successful, we will lose money on your case.
2. There is a cap on the amount we can receive. For social security, the cap is 25% or $7,200 for cases at the administrative level. (We receive the lesser amount of the two.) So, in other words, at a certain point, It would make no sense for us to make a case last longer. If we were to make a case last longer intentionally, it would be of no benefit to us. Most people don’t see the amount of work that actually goes into a case. Keep in mind, the longer a case goes on, the longer we have to pay employees to request records, review files, and manage cases. So, if you consider overhead, we actually have a lot invested in each case.
3. In other fields, attorneys charge by the hour, and they charge a lot. If we were to charge by the hour for our cases, the amount would far exceed what we charge with our contingency fee. So, once again, it makes more sense for us to get our clients approved as quickly as possible.
4. The big elephant in the room regarding a law firm purposely waiting for a client’s case to enhance their back pay is unethical. As a law firm, we are subject to review under the West Virginia state bar and ethics committee. If it were true that we were doing this, we would lose our law licenses.

When we went into business 20 years ago, there were countless areas in which we could practice. We chose to focus on social security because we believed that there were a lot of people who needed help getting approved. We are passionate about the law, and we work hard to help people get the benefits they deserve.

If you’d like to know more about our services, or if you’d like to ask us questions about becoming a client, call us today. Our number is 1-877-526-3457. If you can’t talk now, fill out this form, and we will call you at another time.