Information on lawyers' fees is also available (in PDF) in Chinese, Punjabi and Spanish.

Every legal consultation is different and it is difficult to predict how much it will cost you to retain a lawyer. You and your lawyer should talk about fees the first time you meet.

For lawyers, much like other professional advisors, fees are a market issue. There is no fee schedule for legal services and the Law Society has no authority to control what lawyers charge, other than setting maximum percentages for contingency fees.

Before starting work on your file, your lawyer may prepare a fee agreement setting out how you will be billed for the services. These are the most common ways lawyers bill:

For some services, a lawyer may quote a fixed fee for all work regardless of the time involved. This method of billing is often used for specific transactions such as incorporating a business or purchasing a house. Some lawyers also use a fixed fee for specific types of court appearances such as defending a client on a minor criminal charge.

Under an hourly rate fee agreement, your lawyer will bill for the amount of time spent working for you. This includes time spent on the phone, in meetings, doing research, preparing documents, dealing with correspondence, appearing in court and anything else involving your file. Hourly rates usually reflect the lawyer's skill and experience - senior lawyers charge more per hour than lawyers who are just starting out in practice.

Some lawyers may charge different hourly rates depending on the type of legal work they are doing for you. Sometimes it makes sense to have a senior lawyer working for you because he or she may be able to handle your legal issue more quickly and, therefore, more economically. In other situations - routine research, for example - it may be better to have a junior lawyer with a lower hourly rate working on your file.

In a contingency fee agreement, the lawyer receives a percentage of the money the client wins in a lawsuit. If no money is recovered, the lawyer collects no fee. Contingency fee agreements are common in personal injury claims, product liability cases and class actions.

Contingency fee agreements must be in writing. Contingency fees are not permitted in family law cases involving child custody or access. They are permitted in other types of family law cases, but must be approved by the court.

In a claim for personal injury or wrongful death arising out of a motor vehicle accident, the maximum contingency fee allowed is one-third of the amount recovered. In all other cases involving personal injury or wrongful death, the maximum allowed is 40% of the amount recovered.

There are no maximum limits for contingency fees in cases not involving personal injury or wrongful death. Lawyers often vary their contingency fee rates depending on the amount of the claim, the degree of risk involved and the stage at which the case is resolved.

In most contingency fee agreements, the client is required to pay all disbursements such as medical reports, court filing fees and photocopying charges, regardless of the outcome of the case.

Retainers, disbursements and taxes

Retainer: A retainer is a sum of money you pay to your lawyer as a deposit for the services the lawyer will perform for you and the expenses the lawyer will incur on your behalf. Your lawyer will submit accounts to you, which will be paid from the retainer.

Disbursements: Disbursements are expenses such as government fees, court filing fees, courier charges, photocopying costs or fees paid for expert reports from people such as doctors or engineers. You are responsible for these expenses and they will be included in your legal bill.

Taxes: Lawyers are required to charge PST and GST on all fees and most disbursements.