What Is a Contingency Fee in a Personal Injury Case?

A contingency fee is a fee arrangement in which your attorney agrees to represent you without upfront payment, taking their fee as a percentage of any recovery at the end of the case. If you do not recover money, you do not owe the attorney a fee. If you do recover, the attorney's fee comes out of the recovery.

Contingency fees make legal representation accessible to people who could not otherwise afford to pay an attorney by the hour. Personal injury cases are the most common area where contingency fees are used — because the injuries often prevent clients from working and because the potential recovery justifies the attorney's risk.

Standard Contingency Fee Percentages

- Pre-litigation settlement — 33% (one-third) is the standard rate if the case resolves before a lawsuit is filed.
- Litigation — 35-40% if a lawsuit is filed and the case settles during litigation.
- Trial — 40-45% if the case goes to trial or is appealed.

Some attorneys use flat percentages regardless of stage. The specific rate should be in writing in the contingency fee agreement before representation begins.

What Case Expenses Cover

The contingency fee compensates the attorney for their time — it does not cover the out-of-pocket costs of pursuing the case. Case expenses — filing fees, medical record costs, expert witness fees, deposition transcripts, investigation costs — are separate and are typically also recovered from the settlement or verdict.

Make sure you understand whether expenses are deducted from the gross recovery before or after the attorney fee is calculated. The difference can be meaningful in high-expense cases.

Reading the Fee Agreement

Before signing, confirm: the percentage at each stage of the case, whether expenses are advanced by the attorney and deducted from your recovery, what happens to expenses if you lose, your right to be consulted on settlement decisions, and any circumstances that would entitle the attorney to withdraw.