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How Much Does It Cost to Hire a Motorcycle Accident Lawyer?
Last updated Tuesday, January 27th, 2026
The cost of hiring a lawyer stops many people from seeking legal help after a motorcycle accident. They assume they can’t afford it, so they try to handle insurance claims on their own or accept whatever settlement the insurance company offers.
That assumption is often wrong. Most motorcycle accident lawyers don’t charge anything upfront, and you only pay if you win. Understanding how attorney fees work can help you decide whether hiring a lawyer makes sense for your case.
The Contingency Fee Model
Personal injury attorneys typically work on contingency, which means their fee is contingent on winning your case. If you don’t recover money, you don’t owe attorney fees. If you do recover money, the attorney takes a percentage of that recovery.
This arrangement solves a basic problem: people who need lawyers most are often the ones who can least afford to pay them. After a motorcycle accident, you might be dealing with medical bills, lost income, and a damaged bike. Coming up with thousands of dollars for legal fees simply isn’t possible for most people.
Contingency fees level the playing field. You get access to experienced legal representation without paying anything upfront. The attorney takes on the financial risk of your case, investing their time and resources with no guarantee they’ll be paid.
In return, they take a percentage of your settlement or verdict if they win. That percentage is typically between 25% and 40%, with 33.3% being common.
Have You Been Injured in a Motorcycle Accident?
If you need a motorcycle accident lawyer, talk to an experienced lawyer who’s been helping injured bikers for over 35 years.
What Percentage Do Lawyers Charge?
A common sliding scale might look like this: 25% if the case settles before filing a lawsuit, 33.3% if a lawsuit is filed but the case settles before trial, and 40% if the case goes to trial.
This structure rewards lawyers for settling cases efficiently while compensating them for the substantial additional work that litigation and trial require. Taking a case to trial can mean hundreds of hours of work, expert witness fees, and months or years of commitment.
The percentage might also vary based on the stage of settlement. If the insurance company makes a reasonable offer within a few weeks and minimal work is required, a lower percentage might apply. If the lawyer has to fight for every dollar over two years of negotiation, the full percentage is fair.
How the Math Works
Let’s say you settle your case for $100,000 and your attorney’s fee is 33.3%. The attorney takes $33,300, and you receive $66,700.
If your medical bills were $30,000 and you lost $10,000 in wages, you’re still netting $26,700 beyond just covering those expenses. Plus, you were compensated for pain and suffering, which you wouldn’t have received at all if you’d accepted the insurance company’s initial lowball offer.
Now compare that to trying to handle the case yourself. Insurance companies know when someone isn’t represented by a lawyer, and they make much lower settlement offers. That same case might settle for $40,000 if you’re negotiating on your own.
You’d keep the whole $40,000 instead of paying an attorney fee, but you’d still net less than if you’d hired a lawyer and received $66,700 after fees. The lawyer’s skill and negotiation leverage often result in a settlement that’s more than enough to cover their fee and still leave you better off.
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Case Expenses Are Different From Attorney Fees
Attorney fees and case expenses are two different things. The contingency fee is what the lawyer charges for their work. Case expenses are the costs of pursuing your claim: court filing fees, expert witness fees, costs for obtaining medical records, deposition transcripts, accident reconstruction, and so on.
Some attorneys advance these costs and then deduct them from your settlement at the end of the case. Others require you to pay certain expenses as they come up. Make sure you understand how your attorney handles expenses before you sign a retainer agreement.
Case expenses can add up, especially in complex cases. Expert witnesses might charge thousands of dollars for their time and testimony. Medical experts who review your records and provide opinions about your injuries and prognosis aren’t free. Accident reconstruction experts who analyze crash dynamics charge for their work.
In a straightforward case with clear liability and relatively minor injuries, expenses might only be a few hundred dollars. In a complex case involving serious injuries and disputed liability, expenses can easily reach five figures.
When the case settles or you win at trial, these expenses typically come out of the recovery first, and then the attorney’s percentage is calculated. So if you recover $100,000 and expenses were $5,000, the attorney would take 33.3% of $95,000, not $100,000. You’d receive roughly $63,150 instead of $66,700.
Some attorneys calculate their percentage before expenses are deducted, which means you receive less. Make sure you understand which method your lawyer uses.
What If You Lose?
If you don’t recover any money, you don’t owe attorney fees. That’s the beauty of the contingency model. The lawyer takes the financial risk.
But you might still owe case expenses, depending on your agreement. Some contingency fee contracts say that if you lose, you’re responsible for repaying the expenses the attorney advanced. Other contracts say the attorney eats those costs too.
Read your retainer agreement carefully and ask questions about what happens if you lose. In most motorcycle accident cases, the risk of losing completely is small if you have a decent case, but you should understand the worst-case scenario.
Why Don’t Lawyers Charge Hourly for Injury Cases?
Some lawyers do charge by the hour, but it’s rare in personal injury work. Hourly rates for experienced attorneys can easily be $300 to $500 per hour or more. A case that takes 100 hours of work would cost you $30,000 to $50,000 in legal fees, plus expenses.
Most accident victims can’t afford that, especially when they’re already dealing with medical bills and lost income. Even if they could afford it, they’d be taking all the financial risk. If the lawyer works 100 hours and then the case doesn’t recover enough to justify those fees, you’re still on the hook for payment.
Contingency fees shift that risk to the lawyer. They only get paid if you do, which aligns their interests with yours. They’re motivated to maximize your recovery because their payment depends on it.
Free Consultations
Most motorcycle accident lawyers offer free initial consultations. You can meet with them, explain what happened, and get their assessment of your case without paying anything.
This serves both parties. You get to learn whether you have a case, what it might be worth, and whether you want to hire that particular lawyer. The lawyer gets to evaluate whether your case is one they want to take.
Not every case is worth pursuing. If your injuries are minor, liability is questionable, and the potential recovery is small, a lawyer might decline to take your case. That doesn’t mean you don’t have a claim; it just means the case might not justify the time investment on a contingency basis.
Even if a lawyer decides not to take your case, the free consultation still has value. You’ll understand your legal options better and can make an informed decision about whether to pursue the claim on your own or let it go.
Have You Been Injured in a Motorcycle Accident?
If you need a motorcycle accident lawyer, talk to an experienced lawyer who’s been helping injured bikers for over 35 years.
When You Might Pay Different Fees
Some situations fall outside the typical contingency arrangement. If you’re defending against a claim rather than making one, lawyers usually charge by the hour. If you need help with something other than recovering money, like getting your motorcycle released from impound or dealing with criminal charges from the accident, that’s typically hourly work too.
Small tasks like sending a demand letter to an insurance company might be available on a flat-fee basis. Some lawyers will handle that for a few hundred dollars without taking on the whole case.
Workers’ compensation cases sometimes have different fee structures because those fees are regulated by statute. Talk to a lawyer about how fees work for your specific situation.
Is Hiring a Lawyer Worth the Cost?
The question isn’t really what it costs to hire a lawyer. It’s whether you’ll end up with more money in your pocket with a lawyer than without one, even after paying the attorney’s fee.
Research consistently shows that people represented by lawyers recover more than people who handle claims themselves. The difference is often substantial, easily enough to cover the attorney’s fee and still leave you better off.
Lawyers know how to value cases. They know what damages you’re entitled to claim. They know how to negotiate with insurance adjusters who are trained to minimize payouts. They know when to settle and when to push for more.
Insurance companies take lawyers seriously in ways they don’t take unrepresented individuals seriously. A demand letter from an attorney carries weight. The implicit threat of litigation matters. Adjusters know that lawyers can and will file lawsuits when settlements aren’t reasonable.
You’re also buying peace of mind. Dealing with insurance companies after an accident is stressful. You’re trying to recover from injuries, get back to work, and handle daily life. Having someone else manage the legal side of things is worth something, even if it’s hard to put a dollar value on it.
Questions to Ask Before Hiring
When you’re meeting with potential lawyers, ask about fees directly. What percentage do they charge? Does that percentage change based on when the case settles? How are expenses handled? What happens if you lose?
Get everything in writing. Your retainer agreement should spell out the fee structure, how expenses work, and what services the lawyer will provide. Read it carefully before you sign.
Ask about the lawyer’s experience with motorcycle accident cases specifically. General personal injury experience is fine, but motorcycle cases have unique aspects, and experience with them matters.
Find out who will actually work on your case. In larger firms, the senior lawyer you meet with might not be the one handling day-to-day work. Make sure you’re comfortable with whoever will be your primary contact.
The Bottom Line
Hiring a motorcycle accident lawyer typically doesn’t cost anything upfront. You pay a percentage of your recovery if you win, nothing if you lose. That percentage is usually between 25% and 40%, with one-third being typical.
Case expenses are separate from attorney fees and can add up, but they’re also typically paid from the settlement rather than out of your pocket upfront.
For most people with serious injuries from a motorcycle accident, hiring a lawyer results in a higher net recovery than handling the case alone, even after paying the attorney’s fee. The lawyer’s expertise in valuing cases, negotiating with insurance companies, and building strong claims more than pays for itself.
If you’re not sure whether hiring a lawyer makes sense for your case, take advantage of free consultations. You’ll learn about your options without spending anything, and you can make an informed decision about how to proceed.
The cost of hiring a lawyer shouldn’t keep you from getting legal advice. In most cases, it costs more to go without one.
