Answer: Our firm, like most attorneys who represent plaintiffs in personal injury matters, work on a contingency fee basis. A standard contingency fee retainer is 33 1/3 percent (or better known as 1/3rd of the recovery) after the deduction of expenses. In other words, expenses are taken from the top of the recovery (for it would be unfair and unethical for an attorney to apply the 1/3rd legal fee to the total recovery and then deduct expenses from the client's portion of the recovery).
Please note that a sliding scale contingency retainer agreement applies to medical malpractice cases (this type of retainer is required by legislation that limits the fee percentage as the amount of the recovery increases at certain increments - see the section on medical malpractice for a further discussion of this).
Some firms also use another form of an approved contingency fee sliding scale retainer for all types of personal injury cases. This form gives a larger fee to the attorney in the event of a recovery under $30,000.00. Our firm does not use this form of a retainer. It is our feeling that a straight one third agreement is enough of a fee and is a straight forward agreement that prevents unnecessary confusion.
