Costs vary by type of lawyer, so review our attorney fee schedule to find out the average cost of hiring an attorney in Florida. When attorneys' fees are awarded, there is a mini-evidentiary hearing to determine the “reasonableness of those fees. Another lawyer, the expert in reasonable attorneys' fees, is of the opinion that the rate and hours spent are reasonable. The opposing party then has its own expert to say otherwise.
Quite archaic and ridiculous in my opinion. However, the reasonable fee expert is as done with another lawyer who testifies that the fees incurred by the prevailing attorney were “reasonable fees. Otherwise, the Florida Bar Association offers a uniform Fee Arbitration Program throughout the state to resolve disputes between lawyers and clients for legal fees. Article I, Section 26 of the Florida Constitution limits the amount of the contingent fee that an attorney may charge in a medical malpractice case.
Your lawyer may request additional money if the costs exceed the original deposit or if your lawyer earns all the anticipated fees while the case is still ongoing. In a contingency fee agreement, you and your lawyer agree that you will not be paid a fee unless you win your case. An attorney must reimburse the client for the rest of the advances of fees or costs not used by the attorney for the case. Lawyers base their fees on different facts, including the difficulty of a particular legal task, the amount of time involved, the lawyer's experience and skill in the particular area of law, and the lawyer's cost to do business.
