By Dan Rose, a Senior Local Business Guide Specializing in Personal Injury Legal Services in New York City

After a crash, most people in Queens type some version of the same question into a phone: who is the best accident lawyer in Queens, or which firm is top-rated for serious injuries. The search results will answer it with ads, star ratings and directories, and none of those can tell you what actually matters.

What matters is written down in the agreement you are asked to sign, and New York regulates that document closely. This is what the rules require, how the one-third fee is really calculated, and what to check before you put your name on anything.

Why “best” is the wrong question

No court, bar association or agency in New York ranks injury lawyers. Nobody certifies a firm as the best, and New York restricts lawyers from calling themselves certified specialists unless an accredited body has actually certified them. Rankings and badges on a website are marketing. Some are earned; some are bought. From the outside you cannot tell which.

The useful questions are narrower and they have answers. Is this lawyer licensed and in good standing? Who will actually work on my file? What exactly will I be charged, and how is it calculated? What happens to the expenses if we lose? A firm that answers those plainly, in writing, before you sign, is showing you how it will treat you for the next two years.

What New York requires in writing

Almost every injury case in New York is taken on a contingent fee: the lawyer is paid a percentage of whatever is recovered, and nothing if there is no recovery. Because the client pays nothing up front, the state puts the protections into the paperwork.

Under Rule 1.5(c) of the New York Rules of Professional Conduct, the lawyer must give you a writing that states how the fee is determined, the percentage that applies on settlement, trial or appeal, and which litigation expenses will come out of the recovery. When the case ends, the lawyer must give you a second writing showing the outcome, what was remitted to you, and how that figure was worked out.

Queens sits in the Appellate Division, Second Department, which has its own rule on injury fees, 22 NYCRR 691.20. It adds two filing requirements that most clients never hear about. The lawyer must file a retainer statement with the Office of Court Administration within 30 days of signing you up. And within 15 days of receiving settlement or verdict money, the lawyer must file a closing statement and serve a copy on you. Those filings exist so that the fee is on the record, not just agreed between two parties.

How the one-third is actually calculated

The same rule caps what an injury lawyer can charge. It offers two schedules. Schedule A is a sliding scale: 50 percent of the first $1,000, 40 percent of the next $2,000, 35 percent of the next $22,000, and 25 percent of anything over $25,000. Schedule B is a flat percentage of no more than 33⅓ percent, if the agreement says so from the start. Most injury retainers use Schedule B, which is where the familiar “one-third” comes from. Medical malpractice cases follow a different statute and a different scale.

The detail that changes the numbers is what the percentage is taken from. Under 691.20 the fee is computed on the net sum recovered: the settlement after deducting the expenses of the case, such as expert medical testimony and investigation. It is not computed on the gross figure. And the rule is equally specific about what does not come off first: liens, hospital bills, medical care and payments owed back to insurers are not deducted before the fee is calculated.

A worked example

A delivery driver from Ozone Park settles a car accident claim for $90,000. The case cost $4,500 to run, covering medical records, an expert report and filing fees. The hospital that treated her holds a $12,000 lien.

• Settlement: $90,000
• Less case expenses: $4,500, leaving a net sum of $85,500
• One-third of the net sum: $28,500 to the lawyer
• Left after the fee and expenses: $57,000
• Less the hospital lien: $12,000
• Paid to her: $45,000

Two things in that list surprise people. If the fee had been taken from the gross $90,000, it would have been $30,000 and she would have received $1,500 less, which is why the net calculation matters. And the $12,000 lien comes out of her share, not before the fee is worked out, so a settlement that sounds like $90,000 puts $45,000 in her hand. Neither of those is a trick. Both should be explained before she signs, not discovered on the closing statement.

Five things to check before you sign

The license. The court system publishes an online Attorney Directory showing whether a New York lawyer is registered and in good standing. It takes a minute, and it is the one check nobody can fake.

Who will do the work. The lawyer in the advertisement and the lawyer on your file are not always the same person. Ask who will take your deposition, who will answer your calls, and whether your case will be referred to another firm.

The schedule and the base. The retainer should say whether Schedule A or B applies and that the percentage is taken from the net sum. If it is vague on either, ask for it in writing.

What happens to the expenses if you lose. Rule 1.8(e) lets a lawyer advance the costs of a case and make repayment contingent on the outcome. Many injury firms do exactly that, so a lost case costs the client nothing. But “may” is not “must.” The retainer should say which applies to you.

How the lawyer knows Queens. A car accident case in this borough is filed at Queens County Supreme Court at 88-11 Sutphin Boulevard, against insurers and defense firms who appear there every week. Local familiarity is not a credential, but it is a fair thing to ask about.

Where this goes wrong

Signing with someone who found you

People are approached at hospitals, at tow yards and by phone within days of a crash, by someone offering to “connect them with a lawyer.” Judiciary Law § 479 makes it unlawful for anyone to solicit legal business on a lawyer’s behalf. A lawyer who got your name that way has told you something about how the case will be run. Choose the lawyer; do not be chosen.

Not reading the expenses clause

The fee percentage gets all the attention. The expenses clause decides whether you owe the cost of an expert and a trial if the case loses, and whether expenses come off before or after the fee. Two retainers can both say “one-third” and leave the client in very different positions.

Treating the settlement figure as your figure

Medical liens, Medicaid and Medicare repayment and no-fault reimbursement can all come out of a recovery. A good lawyer negotiates those down and tells you, before you accept an offer, roughly what will reach you. If nobody has given you that number, ask for it before you say yes.

Changing lawyers without knowing how the fee splits

You can change lawyers at any point, and many people worry that doing so means paying twice. Usually it does not. In Lai Ling Cheng v Modansky Leasing Co., 73 NY2d 454 (1989), the Court of Appeals held that a discharged lawyer can take either the reasonable value of the work done or a proportionate share of the contingent fee, and that share comes out of the total fee, not an extra charge on top. The lawyers settle it between themselves.

Never seeing the closing statement

The closing statement is yours by rule. It shows every deduction and every payment. If a case settles and you receive a check without one, ask for it. It is the single document that tells you whether everything above was done correctly.

Common questions

Do I pay anything up front?
Not in a standard contingent fee injury case. The fee comes out of the recovery. What you should confirm in writing is who pays the case expenses, and whether you owe them if there is no recovery.

Is one-third the most a Queens injury lawyer can charge?
In most injury cases, yes. The Second Department rule caps the fee at Schedule A or, if the agreement provides for it from the start, 33⅓ percent of the net sum under Schedule B. A lawyer can charge less.

How do I check whether a lawyer is licensed?
Search the lawyer’s name in the New York court system’s online Attorney Directory. It shows registration status. If the lawyer does not appear, or appears with a status other than currently registered, ask why before going further.

What if I already signed and I am not happy?
You can discharge a lawyer at any time. The first lawyer is generally entitled to be paid for work done, but that payment usually comes out of the one fee on the case rather than on top of it, following Lai Ling Cheng.

Does it matter whether the firm is big or small?
Less than people think. What matters is who handles your file, how they explain your numbers, and whether they are prepared to try the case if the offer is wrong. Ask about those rather than the size of the office.

I was on a motorcycle. Does any of this change?
The fee rules are the same for every injury case. What differs is the liability picture and how insurers treat riders, so it is worth asking how often a lawyer handles motorcycle accident claims in particular.

Before you decide

The right lawyer for a Queens injury case is the one who puts the fee, the expenses and the likely net figure in front of you before you sign, and who is still explaining them when the closing statement arrives. Whether you have a claim worth bringing at all turns on New York’s serious injury threshold, which is worth understanding first.

Ribowsky Law handles car accident claims across the borough on a contingent fee, and the car accident and injury team at Ribowsky Law will walk you through the retainer line by line before you sign anything.

This article is general information about New York law and professional rules, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Fee arrangements depend on the agreement signed and the type of case. This was accurate as of September 2026.

Speak to a Queens injury attorney

If you were hurt anywhere in Queens, Ribowsky Law offers a free consultation, and there is no fee unless we recover for you. Call or visit the Richmond Hill office; directions are on the map below.

Ribowsky Law
109-12 Jamaica Avenue, Richmond Hill, NY 11418
Phone: (718) 659-5333