

Michał Surówka
advocat
SURÓWKA Law Firm
How much does it cost to hire a lawyer for a criminal or civil case?
It is worth emphasizing that this article is of a general nature. For an individual consultation, please contact Attorney Michał Surówka directly at 883-921-775 or via email at adwokat.m.surowka@kancelariasurowka.pl. The law firm is based in Krakow but provides services throughout the entire country.
Do you need legal assistance?
Knowledge about the cost of hiring a lawyer in criminal cases is very useful for individuals who wish to seek assistance from a qualified specialist while maintaining control and full awareness of the service they are paying for. A similar situation arises for those wishing to secure legal support from a lawyer specializing in civil or commercial law. Various sources on the Internet provide information on how lawyer fees are structured in criminal and civil cases. However, these sources do not always allow those in need of legal assistance to draw the right conclusions. Therefore, this post is dedicated to a detailed discussion of lawyer fees in both criminal and civil matters, as well as to explaining the key points to consider when selecting a lawyer.
How much does it cost to hire a lawyer for a civil case?
As I noticed during my research into what has already been written on this subject on various websites, many lawyers refer in their publications to the so-called minimum lawyer fee rates, as indicated in the regulation of the Minister of Justice concerning fees for legal services. However, these rates have not been adjusted for many years, do not account for inflation, and are currently below market value. As the regulation itself states, these are only minimum rates.
In practice, under the current market conditions – no matter how harsh this may sound – if a lawyer proposes the minimum rate according to the regulation, such as:
- 1,200.00 PLN for handling a civil case in the first-instance court,
- or 720.00 PLN for handling a criminal case in the first-instance court,
it should raise concerns about the lawyer’s competence, as well as their level of professional engagement, which are, of course, often related.
How much does it cost to hire a lawyer in a civil case? As expected, the lawyer’s fee depends on whether we are only talking about a consultation (either in the lawyer’s office or remotely via WhatsApp, Zoom, etc.). In such cases, the lawyer’s fee typically ranges from 300.00 to even 500.00 PLN, particularly if the consultation pertains to a niche area of law, where the lawyer’s expertise is valued higher. Often, if the consultation leads to further collaboration (e.g., entrusting the lawyer with the entire case), the fee for the consultation is included in the overall cost of handling the case.
In many cases, the nature of the case allows for the specification of individual stages, which, in turn, enables an agreement with the lawyer on their fees for each stage of the case.
For example, in a typical civil or commercial case, where we seek overdue payment from a contractor, it may often be sufficient for the lawyer to draft a proper, comprehensive, well-documented payment demand, which can be priced upfront (with the lawyer providing their fee for the entire task) or charged hourly, specifying the hourly rate, and, for instance, agreeing to notify the client if the number of hours exceeds a set threshold. What factors influence the cost of a lawyer in a civil case? The fee should depend on the lawyer’s methodology, creativity, talent, and competence.
When considering lawyer fees in civil cases, one must take into account a key issue. In every case, a document can be prepared that presents a high level of substance, exerting the appropriate influence on its reader (as is the case in the aforementioned payment demand, which aims to achieve this), supported by relevant documentation (which must first be identified, collected from the client, thoroughly analyzed, and selected) and legal arguments. This will obviously involve higher costs, as opposed to a generic document, lacking substance, documentation, and arguments, which – consequently – may be significantly less effective, though it should be much cheaper (although, in some cases, one might even question whether certain documents should be prepared for free, as it is evident that the lawyer has not put any significant effort into drafting them).
Therefore, lawyer fees in criminal and civil cases are always different. For each case, we can find a lawyer who is very expensive (even excessively expensive in relation to their competence), very cheap (including those who are too cheap or still too expensive in relation to their competence), as well as a lawyer who guarantees a high level of competence and adequate, yet still reasonable, fees for their services.
What is the cost of hiring a lawyer for a criminal case?
Similarly in criminal cases. Clients often approach me after receiving a notice about an interrogation, for example, as a suspect.
There is no obstacle to applying a stage-based fee structure here as well, for example, for participating in the interrogation itself, and then, once we know the preliminary legal qualifications of the alleged crimes, and the scope of the investigation or proceedings, we can separately agree on a fee for obtaining the case files and – crucially – performing a thorough, detailed analysis of the case, examining it from both factual and legal perspectives, followed by a meeting with the client to explain our findings and recommendations.
Only later can we discuss fees for handling the case:
- in the preparatory proceedings (prosecutorial, before the indictment is filed in court, if at all, as in some factual situations, the defense should aim for discontinuation of the proceedings even at the prosecutor’s stage),
- and then in the first-instance court proceedings (if, as mentioned earlier, in the case of defending the suspect, the case is not dismissed during the prosecutor’s proceedings).
How much does it cost to hire a lawyer for a criminal case? Generally speaking, the main lawyer’s fee should depend on:
- the stage of the criminal proceedings at which the lawyer enters the case;
- whether the case has just begun or has been ongoing for some time (e.g., previous judgments were overturned for retrial, another lawyer was involved, etc.);
- the complexity of the criminal case, including the number of charges against the client and their severity, and whether they involve similar or different offenses;
- the type of case and its volume, as some cases consist of only a few volumes of case files, while others have hundreds; at the same time, a case consisting of a single volume can be very legally and evidentially complicated, while one with several volumes may be relatively simple;
- the nature of the alleged crime committed against the client and the extent of the harm caused by the alleged crime.
Only after a thorough analysis of the situation can we provide an answer as to how much a lawyer costs in a criminal case for the client.
How to choose the right lawyer and what factors to consider when making this decision?
The cost of a lawyer in criminal or civil cases should not be the primary factor when choosing a specialist. Recommendations from trusted individuals or personal research and, possibly, an initial phone conversation with the selected lawyer should be the criteria for choosing.
A good sign for a successful collaboration could also be the specialization indicated by the lawyer, as a lawyer who publicly states their specialization is likely to focus on cases within that area, meaning – at least theoretically – they may offer greater experience and a higher level of representation or defense in such cases.
However, nothing replaces intuition in the first contact with a lawyer. A client, even without previous experience with the justice system or lawyers in general, will quickly assess whether the lawyer they are speaking with deserves their trust, offers a diligent approach to the case, and is sufficiently engaged, or if their main goal is merely to secure another client.
At SURÓWKA Law Firm, we adhere to these principles. We specialize in three areas of law – our services include:
Lawyer Krakow – we believe that a lawyer is not only a highly prepared specialist who can draft legal documents at a high level, but also someone with well-developed soft skills, empathy, and internal energy and commitment. Only this way can they provide the level of service that makes the client stop worrying about how much it costs to hire a lawyer for a civil or criminal case, as they will be certain that they are working with a trustworthy individual. This is why we have created SURÓWKA Law Firm – active, engaged, and competent.
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For detailed information tailored to the specifics of a particular case occurring anywhere in the country, especially in the Małopolskie Voivodeship, with a focus on Krakow, as well as the Śląskie, Świętokrzyskie, or Podkarpackie Voivodeships, it is recommended to visit the Contact section.