ant you combine these methods?

作者：INSURANC… 文章来源：LEGAL 点击数：更新时间：2007-5-18

es, usually you can do whatever you and the lawyer agree on.

One increasingly popular basis for fees involves a "Value Added" bonus that can be a combination of several of these methods.

For example, assume that your copyright has been violated and you wish to recover from the wrongdoer. Or that you wish to contest a Will and claim that you are the legal beneficiary, not the ex-spouse. Both of these types of action are typically not handled on a contingency basis by capable lawyers. To hold down your initial out-of-pocket fees, you and the lawyer may agree that the lawyer will handle the matter for a reduced hourly fee PLUS a percentage of any recovery in excess of $Z.

Sometimes the value added may be speed. For example, assume that you own and want to develop a piece of commercial real estate, but it requires a zoning change to do so. You might agree that the faster the change can take place so you can build, the higher the fee the lawyer will receive.

Depending on the state, there are certain matters in which incentive arrangements may be illegal. For example, in criminal cases there often are prohibitions against basing the fee in a particular case on the result.