Did You Know?

Looking for an attorney in Illinois that will take a case where they receive a percentage of a recovery is a common request. This is called working on a contingency basis. We just got a call from someone looking for a Chicago contingency law firm so I thought I’d write about how to get one.

To get an attorney to take on your case where they don’t get paid until you do, they need some reasonable belief that there will be money recovered when the case is done. As a result, the typical contingency base is a personal injury claim like a car accident, medical malpractice, workers’ compensation, slip and fall, etc. We also know many attorneys that will take a case on a percentage when you are going for unpaid wages, overtime benefits, sales commissions, social security disability benefits, legal malpractice (when there is a provable financial harm), class action lawsuits and collection matters.

For cases like divorce or criminal defense, it’s illegal for the attorney to work on a percentage. In criminal cases of course there is no recovery. Same would be true if you are the defendant in a civil law suit. If you aren’t going to be winning anything, you’ll have to pay for help. For some this makes it very challenging to find representation.

In some commercial litigation lawsuits, attorneys will work for a percentage if two things can be shown. 1. That the ultimate payoff looks to be worth justifying the risk of working all the time it will take. 2. That there is no counter-claim. In other words, if you are suing someone and they are suing you, a lawyer can’t defend you a contingency basis. And even if they do it for free, the fear they will have is that each side will say to the other that if “you drop your claim, I’ll drop mine.” That can work out great for the client and that should be the goal. But if the attorney knows he/she might not get compensated they won’t touch it in the first place.

Will contests are similar. Typically those are handled via an hourly fee, but if there is a valid will challenge, then you might not have to pay anything up front. Just beware lawyers that take a percentage when they are just processing a will. We’ve seen some crooks (lawyers) end up with over $100,000 in legal fees because they took a percentage of a probate estate that had no disputes. The lawyers we know would have charged by the hour and the total fees would have been less than $5,000.

We are always happy to talk with you for free to see if there is anyone that we know for your case or if there is way to get an attorney that won’t collect if they aren’t successful. So please feel free to contact us at any time and we’ll do whatever we can for you.

Written by Michael Helfand

See also: Can I Afford An Illinois Medical Malpractice Lawyer?

We are Illinois attorneys that don’t want to represent you.  Instead we want to find you the best law firm for your unique case.  No lawyer is right for every situation.  You need to find the best one for you.

Even when you know what type of lawyer to look for, it can be hard to figure out which one to hire.  So many attorneys are full of it.  That doesn’t make them bad lawyers, but it means that they aren’t always truthful.

Case in point, a woman called us recently who had torn her rotator cuff on the job.  She called a local lawyer and when she told him what her injury was, he told her that she was in luck, he’s known as the top rotator cuff injury attorney in the area.

This is like the restaurants that claim they have the #1 pizza in Chicago or some other un-verifiable claim.  It doesn’t pass the smell test.  You can’t just give yourself and award that you made up and claim yourself as the best.

Fortunately the caller to my office had enough sense to view this attorney as a used car salesman and was able to find someone more reputable through us.  But that sleazy shtick works because these attorneys keep on feeding people this line of b.s.

When you go to an attorney, you are in charge of whether or not you hire them if they want to take your case on.  You come with facts about your case for them to learn, but you also need to bring common sense with you.  If they are too slick, too young or just too confident in themselves, keep looking elsewhere.  A lawyer with experience is a great thing to have.  A lawyer that makes up their success is a sign of the wrong attorney for you.

Written by Michael Helfand

Here’s a secret about working with an attorney in Illinois.  You almost never see them face to face.  You might when you first hire them and maybe if you have to give a deposition or the case goes to trial some day, but the reality is that whether your lawyer is down the block or 20 miles away, you’ll probably see them the same amount.  And believe it or not, many people sign up through the mail and despite tons of phone calls and e-mails, choose to never see their lawyer in person at all.

Our advice is to always hire the law firm that gives you the best chance for a good result.  That is usually based on the practice focus of the lawyer, their years of experience, knowledge with similar cases, track record of  success and many intangibles such as do they fight for you, how is their customer service, what is their availability, etc.

Some people are deathly afraid of coming in to the city of Chicago.  If you have a DUI in Wheaton, you don’t need a Chicago attorney.  But if you have a major personal injury claim or a Federal criminal case or high end divorce, the fact of the matter is that the best firms are in the City.  You might save yourself travel time one day, but in the long run you will likely you harm your case.

For Cook County cases this is especially true.  I recently had a woman call me looking for a referral to a new car accident lawyer.  She had an attorney in her neighborhood on the southside, but he never returned calls and one day she discovered he had left the firm.  I recommended a top car accident lawyer in Chicago, but she was very hesitant because she didn’t want to travel and ultimately stuck with her same guy.  Now the case was going to be filed downtown so if she ever had to go to court she’d have to travel.  So would her attorney.  But this firm doesn’t want to go downtown because it’s a hassle for them too.  As a result they have a reputation of settling cases for whatever is offered instead of going for what’s best for the client.

Finding the law firm that gives you the best chance of a good result doesn’t guarantee that you’ll be happy or that you’ll win.  But it sure makes it much more likely.   Sometimes that is found right down the street.  Other times you might have to travel.  But I promise you that when all is said and done you will be happy that you looked out for yourself and went with the firm that increased your chances.

Written by Michael Helfand

School administrators are responsible for the safety of their students, and it’s generally accepted that they can use reasonable means to keep the school safe and discipline those who break the rules. As with most things, however, there is a line between what’s reasonable and what’s not. A recent news article reports that the parent of a 13-year-old is suing the Round Lake school district for strip-searching her child. It brings up the question of how far is too far.

Strip searching a student, and doing so without notifying the parents, certainly crosses the line in my opinion. It goes too far. School teachers and administrators do assume some of the roles of parents and police when students are in their building, but the fact is, they are not the police and they are not the parents.

Student privacy rights at school are somewhat controversial. Public school districts and their employees are essentially the government, which makes it a civil rights issue – unreasonable searches and seizures are a violation of constitutional privacy rights. However, the Supreme Court has said that students have a lesser expectation of privacy when they’re at school. So the law has allowed some leeway, with the idea that administrators and teachers need to have control over their student body.

Some states, including Illinois, have specific laws on the topic. Illinois law says that student property can be searched (lockers, purses, backpacks, etc.) for pretty much any reason and without student consent. The law even extends to students’ cars that are parked on school property. The same rationale applies to mandatory drug testing of athletes and other students. No search warrants are required.

Strip searches, however, are a different story. While there isn’t a law that specifically says strip searches cannot happen, many courts have ruled that strip searches are a violation of a student’s rights. If the school has serious concerns that something dangerous is being hidden under a student’s clothes, they should call the police. The parents should be notified. There are very few instances where a strip search of a student is going to be justified as usually other options are available that are less invasive.

The parent in the Round Lake case is suing for $1.2 million, claiming her son was emotionally distressed by the illegal search he had to endure. I don’t have enough facts to say what this case will settle for, but if true the student deserves something and it needs to be enough to deter the school from this type of behavior in the future.

See also: Do You Have An Illinois Civil Rights Violation Lawsuit?

If you are married and want to break up you file for a divorce.  But if you want to break up with a business partner, the process is actually similar.

If you are going to start a business or join one, it may sound counter-intuitive, but the first thing you should be thinking about is what are you going to do if you want out of the business.  No one likes to think that way, but any good lawyer will tell you that you should have a partnership agreement.

A partnership agreement is like a pre-nup.  It decides up front why you’d sell, how much you’d ask for and what to do if one of you wants out and the other one doesn’t.  So if the agreement says that you have to pay me 95% of the value of my shares or sell the business, there is no fighting over what you are owed once the valuation takes place. If it lists a specific dollar amount the same thing is true.

But if you have no agreement then there is chaos and the only way to get out if you can’t agree is to go through a potentially expensive legal battle.

We recently were called be a restaurant owner who wanted to sell.  His partner wanted to keep going, but didn’t have the funds for a buy out.  So now the caller has to hire a lawyer and file a suit with the hopes that a Judge will order his partner to put the business up for sale.  He can still get the result he wants, but it will be messy.

When you start a business, you likely want to save some money.  I know I did.  But if you are going to skimp, don’t do it on getting a clear partnership agreement put in place that details what each partner is supposed to do and how they will handle problems.  If you don’t then you are asking for trouble sometime down the road.

We talk a lot about experience being one of the most important factors in choosing the right lawyer for your case. We stand by this advice but suggest that you don’t take it to the extreme. More experience is usually a good thing, but there is a tipping point – a point at which an attorney might actually have too much experience.

I was thinking about this recently after a woman called me and told me she was hiring a 74-year-old lawyer for her case because he had “seen and done it all.” The lawyer was 90 minutes away from where they needed to be for court. The only reason she was hiring him was because of his many years of experience.

I cautioned her that it might not be a good idea. Focusing only on the number of years a lawyer has been practicing is not a good way to pick one. It’s shortsighted. Experience is certainly important, but only if it’s relevant and up-to-date.

The experience should be related to your legal issue. Does the attorney’s experience include practice in the area of law your case involves? Has the attorney handled a significant number of similar cases? Was this experience recent (and not 20 years ago when the law was different)? Is the attorney’s experience local, meaning that he or she is familiar with the other attorneys and the judges at the courthouse where your case is being heard? Does your attorney have a good reputation there?

Another thing to consider, if you’re hiring an attorney with decades of experience, is whether they are still on top of their game. Burnout is common in the legal profession. An attorney needs to maintain a certain level of ambition and passion in order to fully represent the best interests of their clients. I think it’s safe to say to say that an attorney with 15 years of experience is going to be more aggressive than someone with 40 years of experience.

I know of older attorneys who stay in the profession on a limited basis. They’re pretty much retired, but they still handle some cases here and there. I wouldn’t recommend them. You want someone who’s still fully engaged in their career. You want someone who talks to other attorneys every day, someone who continues to do research and learn about changes in the law, and someone who still is fully committed to their work. Not someone who has one foot out the door.