How Do I Pay For A Lawyer to Help Me With My Claim?
First, know that we
represent CLAIMANTS ONLY. We will not accept any work from
employers. Our message to employers: if your employee has lost
their job, whatever the reason, they NEED benefits. Think hard
and think twice before you make that person and their family suffer.If you are a claimant, we try to make our rates reasonable, although our minimum rates are strictly necessary to allow us to continue to do this work.
Note that we use our work as Pennsylvania unemployment lawyers as a means of establishing great relationships with clients who return to our workers' compensation and personal injury practice, or who refer other friends and family members. We do NOT rely on the unemployment hearing work to pay our full office overhead, so our rates for helping you with your unemployment matter are reasonable. We try to be fully aware of the desperate situation in which many unemployment claimants find themselves. Essentially, we charge the lowest rates we can to allow us to provide this service without losing money in light of the attorney and paralegal time commitments involved. Further, we allow our clients to make a part of our fee depend upon WINNING your claim -- so that you KNOW we are on your side and fighting hard for the right result in your case. Choosing this fee structure can also reduce the economic risk to you where you may be unsure of the outcome. Call us for details.
Of course, what you're really wondering is what EXACTLY is our charge. We cannot quote our specific rate online, as our fee can vary somwhat depending on the nature of the claim and the location of the hearing we are asked to attend.
Fees are always within the range of $300 to $800 for handling a Referee Hearing -- the "trial" stage in a Pennsylvania UC claim. The exact fee that will apply in your situation will be specified before you hire us and will not change. Call us to find out how hard we plan to work for your money, and to determine which you can more easily afford: the cost of our attorneys fees or thecost of losing a claim you might otherwise have won.
If you are contacting us at a stage other than the Referee Hearing stage of your claim, it may or may not be cost-effective for you to arrange our involvement.
For our advice and guidance early in your claim, well ahead of any referee hearing, we have a discounted program to allow you to meet with a skilled paralegal and/or attorney to discuss your specific situation and get our advice and guidance, which may help you to secure your rights without the need for a dispute or a hearing. When folks hire us for this program, if the same claim later goes on to the hearing stage, we discount our hearing rate by the sum paid to us earlier on. Therefore our early advice, if you feel you need help, may well be worth it.
Most claimants call us for the referee hearing stage, and this is the stage in your case when we can most be of help.
Turning to attorney help AFTER a referee hearing is far more problematic. Most often, even without regard to the facts of your claim, hiring us as that late point may not be in your economic interest. In most cases, the second level appeal (appeal from a referee decision to the UC Board of Review) is not a very valuable appeal right. In approximately 9 out of 10 cases, the Board of Review adopts the determination reached previously by the referee. The Board does NOT hold a new hearing and generally looks ONLY at the transcript of the referee hearing, the "trial" stage in these claims. The attorney's role, if entering at this late stage, is generally limited to preserving the right to file a brief to the Board, and that brief will be limited to arguing points from the transcript and evidence already presented at the referee hearing. If you didn't have a skilled attorney at that hearing, odds are the record will not give us what we need to work with. Meanwhile, our minimum charge for pursuing such an appeal is more than our charge for handling the hearing stage. Similarly, the next level appeal, from the Board to the Commonwealth Court, requires a very substantial investment of attorney time and is almost always cost-prohibitive for potential clients. Again, we are not interested in taking on such work solely to make money -- our goal is to make happy clients. The costs involved at the appeal stages after a failed referee hearing make it difficult to create happy clients, and we refuse to pursue a practice model that has us taking on work simply because the potential client is willing to pay for it -- we have to be convinced it will be worth our client's costs.
For these reasons, we tell our clients straight: the time to hire us is at the referee hearing stage. Our rates are reasonable. You will not regret having our help.
Call us today and make us YOUR unemployment lawyers.
Help Line: 484 840 5403.
If you are fighting to protect your right to unemployment benefits in Philadelphia, Delaware County, Montgomery County, Chester County, Bucks County, Lehigh County, Lancaster County, or Berks County, Pennsylvania, call our offices now for a free telephone consultation.
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