How Much Does A Las Vegas Personal Injury Lawyer Cost?

By Katie Goldberg, founding attorney at Goldberg Injury Law, Las Vegas.

Most Las Vegas personal injury lawyers charge nothing up front and take a percentage of what they recover for you, called a contingency fee. Nevada requires that agreement to be in writing, signed by you, and to state the percentage for a settlement, a trial and an appeal, plus how case costs are handled. So the real question isn’t the percentage alone. It’s what you take home after the fee, the case costs and any medical liens come out of the settlement, and that’s what the rest of this page works through.

Table Of Contents

• The Short Answer
• How A Contingency Fee Works In Nevada
• Attorney Fees Versus Case Costs
• Settlement Deductions, Step By Step
• Is A Personal Injury Lawyer Worth The Fee?
• Questions To Ask Before You Sign A Fee Agreement
• Talk To Katie About What Your Case Would Cost
• Nevada Lawyer Fee Resources

The Short Answer

• Nothing Up Front: you pay no upfront fees. A contingency fee is a percentage of what the lawyer recovers for you, agreed in writing when you hire them. If nothing is recovered, no attorney fee is owed, though the agreement says how case costs are handled.
• Nevada Requires A Written Agreement: the state’s fee rule requires a signed, written agreement that states the percentage for a settlement, a trial and an appeal. It does not set the percentage itself.
• Case Costs Are Separate From The Fee: filing fees, records and expert costs are expenses, and the agreement has to say whether they come out before or after the fee is figured.
• Your Check Is The Last Number: out of a settlement come the fee, the costs and any medical liens. A hospital lien can’t reach your attorney fees.
• The First Conversation Is Free: a free consultation with our Las Vegas injury team is where you see the agreement before you sign anything.

How A Contingency Fee Works In Nevada

A contingency fee means the lawyer’s fee depends on the outcome. Instead of an hourly fee, a flat fee or a retainer, you don’t write a check to get started. If the case settles or wins at trial, the lawyer takes the agreed percentage of the recovery. If there’s no recovery, there’s no attorney fee.

Nevada’s rule on lawyer fees, Rule 1.5(c) of the Nevada Rules of Professional Conduct, spells out what that agreement has to say. It must be in writing and signed by you, and these points have to appear in bold type at least as large as the largest type in the agreement:

1. How the fee is figured, including the percentage that goes to the lawyer if the case settles, goes to trial or goes to appeal.
2. Whether litigation and other expenses come out of the recovery, and whether they come out before or after the fee is calculated.
3. Whether you owe the expenses no matter how the case turns out.
4. That if you lose, you may owe the other side’s attorney fees and will owe their costs as the law requires.
5. That a lawsuit brought only to harass or to force a settlement can lead to liability for malicious prosecution or abuse of process.

When the case ends, the lawyer has to give you a written statement of the outcome and, if there’s a recovery, show what was paid to you and how it was worked out. That closing statement is your receipt, and it’s worth reading line by line.

What Percentage Does A Lawyer Take From A Settlement?

Whatever percentage your signed agreement states. Nevada’s rule doesn’t set a number. It requires the agreement to state the percentage for a settlement, a trial and an appeal, so you can see in writing whether the fee changes as the case goes further. Ask to see each percentage before you sign, and ask whether the percentage applies before or after case costs.

No fee unless we win refers to attorney fees. Case costs and expenses may apply and can differ from fees. Ask us to explain both.

Attorney Fees Versus Case Costs

The fee pays the lawyer. Case costs are what it takes to build the claim: court filing fees, medical records and bills, police reports, depositions and expert witnesses when a case needs one. A claim that settles early may carry very little in costs. A case that goes to trial can carry a lot.

The order matters as much as the amount. If costs come out before the fee is calculated, the percentage applies to a smaller number. If they come out after, the fee is figured on the full settlement. Nevada’s rule makes the agreement say which, so it’s never a surprise at the end.

Do I Pay Case Costs If We Lose?

It depends on your agreement, and Nevada’s rule requires the agreement to say so. Some agreements make the client responsible for expenses regardless of the outcome, and some don’t. The same rule also requires a plain warning that a client who loses will owe the other side’s costs as the law requires, and may owe their attorney fees. Read that section before you sign, and ask the lawyer to walk you through it.

Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case depends on its own facts.

Settlement Deductions, Step By Step

A settlement and the check you receive are not the same number. The gross settlement is what the insurance company agrees to pay; the net settlement is what reaches you. Here’s a settlement breakdown in the order most settlements are paid out, using made-up round numbers so the math is easy to follow:

1. Settlement: $60,000.
2. Attorney fee: if the agreement says one third, figured on the full settlement, $20,000.
3. Case costs advanced: $2,000.
4. Medical liens and unpaid bills: $12,000.
5. Your check: $26,000.

Run the same example with costs taken out first and the fee is figured on $58,000 instead of $60,000. That’s the difference the before-or-after line in your agreement makes.

Medical liens are the line people forget. In Nevada, a hospital can place a lien on your injury settlement or judgment, but it must record and serve the lien before payment to be valid. The lien can’t reach your attorney’s fees, and when you may qualify for Medicaid, Medicare or CHIP, the hospital’s lien recovery is capped at 55%. Negotiating liens down is part of the work, because every dollar off a lien is a dollar that reaches you. What a Las Vegas car accident settlement is worth covers the other side of the math.

How Much Of A $50,000 Settlement Will I Get?

With made-up round numbers: a one-third fee figured on the full $50,000 is $16,667; take out $2,000 in case costs and an $8,000 lien and you receive $23,333. If costs come out first, the fee is figured on $48,000, so it’s $16,000 and you receive $24,000. Your agreement sets the real percentage and the order, and your lawyer’s closing statement shows each line.

Insurance coverage and claim outcomes depend on your policy and your insurer’s decision. We do not control your claim result.

Is A Personal Injury Lawyer Worth The Fee?

Is it worth hiring a personal injury lawyer? Sometimes it isn’t, and a lawyer who tells you that is doing their job. A small claim with a quick insurance offer that covers your bills may not need one. The calculation changes when the injury needs months of treatment, when the insurer disputes fault, or when the other driver carried only a small policy.

Fault is where many claims are decided. Nevada uses modified comparative negligence: you can still recover as long as you are not found more than 50% at fault, and your share reduces the award. For example, if you are 30% at fault on a $100,000 case, you recover $70,000. An insurer that pushes your share of fault up by 20 points takes 20% off the claim, which is often more than the difference a fee makes. How a lawyer can help you get more out of a settlement goes deeper on that.

When Should I Hire A Personal Injury Lawyer?

Before you give a recorded statement or sign anything from an insurer, if you can. In Nevada, you generally have 2 years from the date of injury to file a personal injury lawsuit, and missing that deadline can cost you the right to recover. Evidence like video and witness contact details fades much sooner than that, so an early call is free and keeps your options open.

Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case depends on its own facts.

Questions To Ask Before You Sign A Fee Agreement

• What’s the percentage if the case settles, if it goes to trial, and if it goes to appeal?
• Are case costs taken out before or after the fee is calculated?
• Do I owe any costs if there’s no recovery?
• Who will handle my case day to day, and how do I reach the attorney directly?
• How will medical liens and unpaid bills be handled at the end?

Any lawyer should answer all five in the first meeting. If the answer to the last one is vague, ask again, because liens decide more of your check than most people expect.

What If I Disagree With My Lawyer’s Fee?

Talk to the lawyer first and ask for the closing statement that shows how the fee and costs were figured. If you still disagree, the State Bar of Nevada runs a fee dispute program for disputes between clients and their lawyers, and its page on disputing a lawyer’s fee explains how to start one.

Talk To Katie About What Your Case Would Cost

At Goldberg Injury Law you don’t pay anything up front, and there’s no fee unless we recover money for you. The fee is a percentage of what we recover, set in a written agreement you sign when you hire us, and we’ll walk through each line of it with you before you do.

Call 702-529-2661, text Katie at 702-702-9585, or send us a message. You can also read what clients say on our Google Business Profile or start with a free case evaluation, with direct access to the attorney from the first call. Our Las Vegas personal injury lawyers handle car crashes, falls and every other kind of injury claim.

No fee unless we win refers to attorney fees. Case costs and expenses may apply and can differ from fees. Ask us to explain both.

Nevada Lawyer Fee Resources

• Nevada Rules of Professional Conduct, Rule 1.5: the full text of Nevada’s rule on lawyer fees, including what a contingency agreement must say.
• State Bar of Nevada, Disputing A Lawyer’s Fee: how the State Bar’s fee dispute program works if you disagree with a bill.
• NRS 108.590: the Nevada statute that creates a hospital lien on an injury settlement.
• NRS 108.655: the 55% cap on a hospital lien when you may qualify for Medicaid, Medicare or CHIP.
• NRS 11.190: Nevada’s filing deadlines, including the 2-year deadline for injury claims in subsection 4(e).

Reviewed by Katie Goldberg, founding attorney at Goldberg Injury Law.

This information is general and not legal advice. Every case is different. Talk to a licensed Nevada attorney about your situation. Contacting this firm or reading this page does not create an attorney-client relationship. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case depends on its own facts. Insurance coverage and claim outcomes depend on your policy and your insurer’s decision. We do not control your claim result. No fee unless we win refers to attorney fees. Case costs and expenses may apply and can differ from fees. Ask us to explain both.