Contingent Fees

Contingent Fees

Except for large businesses and wealthy individuals, most potential plaintiffs do not have the money to pay the costs associated with litigation. There are third-party payers in law, but they are insurance companies, which usually limit their payments to defense lawyers. In the United States, this has led to entrepreneurial law, where plaintiffs' attorneys become their clients' partners to earn their fees. In other words, the attorney loans the client the value of his or her legal services in return for a percentage of the money obtained for the client.

Since few people have the resources to hire an attorney on an hourly basis, persons with valid personal injury claims would be denied their day in court if this were the only payment system. This would be an injustice. The solution adopted in the United States is the contingent fee contract. In this arrangement, attorneys take a percentage of the winnings as their fee. The clients make their claims, the attorneys have a chance to earn a fee, and the contingency aspect gives attorneys added incentive to work hard for their clients.

The contingent fee contract provides that the fees will be paid out of the money received from the defendant when a case is won or settled. Most contracts also provide that the attorney will loan the client the money to pay the out-of-pocket expenses of the case. Although the money for these expenses is styled as a loan, few attorneys attempt to collect them from the client if the recovery is less than the expenses in the case. The attorney's fee is based on a percentage of the gross recovery, without regard to the number of hours actually worked on the case. The fees are typically staged--perhaps 33 percent if the case is settled without filing a lawsuit, 40 percent after a lawsuit is filed, and 45 percent if the case must be defended on appeal. Most cases are settled after the filing of a lawsuit but before the rendering of a judgment by a court. Under this schedule, the attorney would receive 40 percent of the settlement and would be reimbursed for expenses out of the client's share.

Law and the Physician Homepage
Copyright 1993 - NOT UPDATED
The Climate Change and Public Health Law Site
The Best on the WWW Since 1995!
Copyright as to non-public domain materials
See DR-KATE.COM for home hurricane and disaster preparation
See WWW.EPR-ART.COM for photography of southern Louisiana and Hurricane Katrina
Professor Edward P. Richards, III, JD, MPH - Webmaster

Provide Website Feedback - https://www.lsu.edu/feedback
Privacy Statement - https://www.lsu.edu/privacy
Accessibility Statement - https://www.lsu.edu/accessibility

Home

Climate Change Project

Table of Contents

Courses

Search

Contingent Fees