Driving on suspended license lawyer – Part 3: How much will it cost?

Driving on suspended license lawyer – Part 3: How much will It cost?

• This article is Part 3 of a very important topic, “how to find a Driving on suspended license lawyer.”
• This article focuses on the key questions to ask about how much it will cost to hire a driving on suspended license lawyer.
• If you read Parts 1 and 2 – I go through how to use Google Reviews to find a great driving on suspended license lawyer. And, what questions to ask that lawyer before you hire them.
  
• You can read the posts here – Part 1, Part 2

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• Before you hire a driving on suspended license lawyer, you need to be 100% clear on how much it will cost to hire that lawyer.
• There are 5 key questions that you need to ask.

Question #1: Does that driving on suspended license lawyer charge by the hour, or do they charge a flat or block fee?

• Lawyers have different pricing models to charge their clients.
• There are two ways that lawyers charge for their services.
• The traditional way is for lawyers to charge by the hour.  
• So, for example, a lawyer may charge $200 per hour of work. And if your case requires 5 hours of work, then the total fee would be $1,000.  
• But you would not know the total fee until the end of your case, so there is real uncertainty as to how much it will cost to fight your driving on a suspended license case.
• The other way for lawyers to charge clients is a flat or block fee.
• That means the lawyer will give you a quote with **ONE** total fee before hiring that lawyer. 
• That means you will have **CERTAINTY** at the very start of your driving on a suspended license case, knowing exactly how much it will cost to fight your charges.
• Generally, I recommend hiring a lawyer that charges a block fee and not an hourly fee.  
• Going through a legal case is stressful enough, and if you can remove one of those stresses — namely, knowing the total cost to fight your case — then the easier your life will be while fighting your charges. 

Question #2: Does the block fee include going to trial?

• Assuming that you are going to hire a driving on suspended license lawyer that charges a block fee, it is very important to ask if that block fee includes the cost of going to trial or not.
• Most driving on suspended license cases do not go to trial. And often, a lawyer will quote you a block fee that does not include the cost of going to trial.  
• However, if your case does go to trial, you want to be 100% clear about the cost of going to trial.
• Having a separate block fee for a trial is normal and nothing to be alarmed about.  
• The time involved from a lawyer’s perspective preparing for and conducting a trial is very different from the time leading up to a trial. This is why there will likely be an additional fee for going to trial.

Question #3: Are there any possible extra costs?

• Once you get a quote from the driving on suspended license lawyer, it’s important to ask a general “catch-all” question: Are there any possible extra costs that are not covered in the block fee quoted?
• For example, there may be costs to get transcripts or videos. Just get 100% clarity about the potential for extra costs.

Question #4: Do they offer payment plans?

• While you can get a fair price for a driving on suspended license lawyer in Ontario, you still may need help with your cash flow paying the lawyer fees.
• Generally, lawyers will seek a payment every month, or in some cases, bi-weekly. And these payment plans are generally interest-fee.  
• Just ask your lawyer if they will help you with your cash flow using a payment plan.

Question #5 – Is the cost “too good to be true”?

• There are quite a few driving on suspended license lawyers in Ontario that you can speak to about your case. In reality, the market is competitive for legal services.
• While it’s important to get a good price, if one of the quotes that you get is so far below the other prices, that’s probably a red flag. And you may want to stay away from hiring that lawyer.
• There is real work that goes into fighting a driving on a suspended license case.  
• And if the price is too low, that may indicate that the lawyer may not put in the work needed to get you the best possible outcome. 
• So be careful.