Fee Agreement — Contingency Fee

CONTINGENCY FEE AGREEMENT

Table of Contents

1. Parties
2. Description of Claim
3. Contingency Fee Percentage
4. State-Specific Percentage Caps
5. Costs and Expenses
6. Calculation of Fee — Before or After Costs
7. No Recovery / No Fee
8. Settlement Authority
9. Client's Right to Terminate
10. Attorney's Right to Withdraw
11. Lien and Subrogation Rights
12. Prohibited Contingent Fee Matters
13. Dispute Resolution
14. Signatures

1. Parties

Date: [__/__/____]

Attorney / Firm: [________________________________]

Bar Number: [________________________________]

Address: [________________________________]

Client Name: [________________________________]

Client Address: [________________________________]

Client Phone / Email: [________________________________]

2. Description of Claim

Nature of Claim: [________________________________]

Adverse Party / Defendant(s): [________________________________]

Date of Incident / Accrual: [__/__/____]

Applicable Statute of Limitations Deadline: [__/__/____]

Jurisdiction / Venue: [________________________________]

3. Contingency Fee Percentage

The attorney's fee shall be the following percentage of the gross recovery:

"Gross recovery" means the total amount recovered by settlement, judgment, or award, before deduction of costs and expenses, unless otherwise specified in Section 6 below.

4. State-Specific Percentage Caps

☐ The percentages in Section 3 comply with the applicable cap for [State: ________].

5. Costs and Expenses

The client is responsible for costs and expenses incurred in pursuing the claim, including:

☐ Court filing fees
☐ Service of process
☐ Deposition and transcript costs
☐ Expert witness fees and reports
☐ Medical record retrieval
☐ Investigator fees
☐ Travel expenses
☐ Mediation / arbitration fees
☐ Document reproduction
☐ Postage and courier
☐ Other: [________________________________]

Cost Advance Policy:

☐ The firm will advance all costs. Client reimburses costs from the recovery.
☐ The client is responsible for costs as incurred, regardless of outcome.
☐ Hybrid: firm advances costs up to $[________]; client responsible for costs beyond that amount.

6. Calculation of Fee — Before or After Costs {#calculation-of-fee}

The attorney's fee shall be calculated:

☐ Before deduction of costs (attorney's percentage is applied to the gross recovery; costs are then deducted from the client's share)

☐ After deduction of costs (costs are deducted from the gross recovery first; attorney's percentage is then applied to the net recovery)

Example (assuming 33⅓% fee on $100,000 recovery with $10,000 in costs):

7. No Recovery / No Fee

If no recovery is obtained, the client owes no attorney fee. However:

☐ The client remains responsible for costs and expenses incurred.
☐ The client owes nothing — firm absorbs all costs if there is no recovery.

8. Settlement Authority

The attorney shall not settle the claim without the client's prior written authorization. The attorney will advise the client on all settlement offers, but the final decision to accept or reject any settlement belongs solely to the client.

9. Client's Right to Terminate

The client may terminate this agreement at any time upon written notice. If the client terminates and subsequently recovers on the claim, the attorney may be entitled to compensation on a quantum meruit basis for the reasonable value of services rendered, subject to applicable law.

10. Attorney's Right to Withdraw

The attorney may withdraw from representation for good cause under MRPC 1.16, including but not limited to:

☐ Client's failure to cooperate
☐ Discovery of facts making the claim frivolous
☐ Irreconcilable disagreement on case strategy
☐ Client's commission of fraud

Upon withdrawal, the firm's right to a fee will be determined by quantum meruit or applicable law.

11. Lien and Subrogation Rights

The client acknowledges that the recovery may be subject to:

☐ Medical liens and provider liens
☐ Health insurance subrogation claims
☐ Medicare / Medicaid liens (42 U.S.C. § 1395y(b))
☐ Workers' compensation liens
☐ Child support liens or government liens
☐ Other: [________________________________]

The attorney will endeavor to negotiate and resolve all liens from the recovery, but the client remains ultimately responsible for satisfying all valid liens.

12. Prohibited Contingent Fee Matters

☐ This matter is not a domestic relations case (fee contingent on securing a divorce, amount of alimony/support, or property settlement).
☐ This matter is not a criminal defense matter.

13. Dispute Resolution

Fee disputes shall be submitted to:

☐ The [________________________________] State Bar fee arbitration program
☐ Mediation before [________________________________]
☐ Binding arbitration under the rules of [________________________________]

14. Signatures

By signing below, the client confirms understanding of and agreement to this contingency fee arrangement.

Client Signature: ________________________________ Date: [__/__/____]

Client Printed Name: [________________________________]

Attorney Signature: ________________________________ Date: [__/__/____]

Attorney Printed Name: [________________________________]

Sources and References

• ABA Model Rule 1.5 — Fees
• ABA Model Rule 1.5 — Comment
• Cornell LII — Contingency Fee Overview
• 28 U.S.C. § 2678 — FTCA Fee Cap
• Florida Bar Rule 4-1.5(f)(4)(B) — Contingency Fee Schedule