Did you know that there’s recently been some attempts to limit the contingency fee system in the United States?
Hi, I’m North Carolina attorney David Daggett. We have what’s called a contingency fee system, which means ordinary individuals can hire a lawyer who will take a case on a percentage of the case. The reason we have that is because, quite frankly, ordinary people wouldn’t be able to hire a lawyer if they had to go in and pay $250, $300, even up to $500 an hour for a lawyer. Not only that, most lawyers usually require that when they work on an hourly basis, that a large retainer fee gets paid up front. Quite frankly, that would eliminate or severely limit access to justice by a lot of people.
Now just think about it: An insurance has their own lawyers on staff, they have plenty of resources to hire lawyers, the same with major corporations. If an individual is wronged, the only recourse they have is to get a lawyer to go after their case. If that individual can’t hire a lawyer on a contingency fee basis, the truth is they can’t hire a lawyer at all and they simply get steamrolled by the other side. That’s not fair.
In the United States, we have said that every person ought to have a right to our court systems, not just the rich and the powerful. The contingency fee is what allows an ordinary person to have the right to get a lawyer to make sure that they’re treated fairly and that justice is done in their claim. Thank you for joining me, I hope this gives you a little more insight about our legal system. Thank you.