Workers' comp lawyers see first pay raise in 15 years

For the first time since 1988, lawyers who handle workers' compensation cases in Maryland have gotten a pay raise.

"I think it's fair," said Rockville lawyer Bruce Bender, who represents injured workers. "It's been a long time coming for attorneys who do a lot of this work."

The little-heralded change, which took effect March 17, retains a graduated fee structure based on the award to the injured worker, but eliminates a $7,500 fee cap.

Although a public hearing was held before the new fees took effect, it came as a surprise to some practitioners. "We didn't hear anything about it," said lawyer Bernice Latou.

But Latou isn't fighting the higher fees. "I think it's long overdue," she said, noting that such cases often remain open for years before the lawyers are paid.

Attorneys' fees in worker's compensation cases are paid out of the award to the injured employee, and are based on the type and amount of that award.

The award, in turn, is generally based on the average weekly wage multiplied by the number of weeks a worker is disabled.

Workers' Compensation Commission Chairman Thomas Patrick O'Reilly said the increase was necessary because of inflationary pressures on the old fees. "The ceiling became the floor," he said, describing the erosion of rates over time.

The new fee structure ties attorney compensation to the state's average weekly wage, which by law must be adjusted annually.

O'Reilly said the new structure would give lawyers an average fee increase of about 3.7 percent. "It didn't make [trial lawyers] happy," O'Reilly said, "but we felt it was a step in the right direction."

But eliminating the cap could lead to more substantial awards. In one example, Latou calculated that a case previously capped at $7,500 could yield a fee of more than $14,000.

Bender benefited from the new rates on the first day they were in effect. After a hearing on March 17, he earned about $2,700 more on a case than he would have the Friday before.

Even so, attorneys' fees as a percentage of recovery remain low in workers' compensation cases, compared to personal injury and other types of cases.

While workers' comp fees average about 15 percent of a claim, personal injury contingency fees range from 25-40 percent, O'Reilly said.

Under the new rules, for example, lawyers earn 20 percent on the first $10,000 of a permanent partial disability claim, as they did before.

The next tier of payment, the 15 percent range, was extended from 120 weeks to 195 weeks under the new rules. The final tier remains at 10 percent.

The Maryland Trial Lawyers Association is planning a seminar in June that will likely discuss the changes, said Bob Zarbin, a member of the association's board of governors.

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