Almost every injury attorney in Arizona advertises a free first meeting. The phrase is so common that people stop reading it, which is a shame, because what it does and does not cover is genuinely useful to understand.
What is usually free
The first conversation. You describe what happened, the attorney tells you whether it is the kind of matter they handle, and you both decide whether to work together. You are normally not charged for that meeting whether or not you go ahead.
What happens after that
In injury work, the common arrangement is a contingency fee. The attorney is paid a percentage of what is recovered, and if nothing is recovered, there is normally no fee. That is why the first meeting can be free: the attorney is deciding whether to take the risk.
Questions worth asking in the free meeting
- What percentage is the fee, and does it change if the matter goes further along?
- Are case costs deducted before or after the fee is calculated?
- What happens to costs if nothing is recovered?
- Who will actually handle my file day to day, and how do I reach them?
- How often will I hear from you, and by what method?
- Roughly how long do matters like mine usually take?
Where LegalNet sits in this
We are not attorneys and we do not provide the consultation. We connect you with an attorney who does. Our service is free to you, and it is free for a specific reason: the attorney pays us a referral fee. You never pay us anything.
We say that in the same breath as everything else on this page because a phrase like “free” deserves the same scrutiny when we use it as when anyone else does.