Two firms quote you the same number and the checks come out thousands of dollars apart. The percentage was never the variable. The base it applied to was, along with who paid for the expert reports, when the rate stepped up, and which liens got paid before anything reached you. In civil claims handled on contingency, the rate is the headline and the definition underneath it is the story.
Most contingency rates in personal injury and civil abuse claims sit in a band from roughly one third to forty percent, with higher tiers appearing if a case is tried or appealed. That band is tight enough that the rate is rarely where firms compete. What varies, and varies a lot, is the arithmetic the rate is applied to.
Gross recovery or net recovery, and why the order matters
A contingency fee is calculated either against the gross settlement or against what remains after case expenses are deducted. The difference is not cosmetic. On a hypothetical recovery with meaningful litigation costs, a fee taken off the top before costs and a fee taken after costs produce materially different results for the client, and the gap widens as expenses grow. Expert-heavy cases are exactly where this bites hardest.
Some states require the fee agreement to state, in plain language, whether expenses come out before or after the fee is computed. Many state bar rules go further and require the client to receive a written statement at the end of the matter showing the recovery, the method of calculation, and each disbursement. If you are reading a draft agreement and cannot tell which order applies, that sentence is missing and should be added before you sign.
Ask for the calculation written out on a sample number. Any firm that does this work regularly can produce it in five minutes.
Case expenses are a separate line, and someone has to front them
Expenses are not the fee. They are filing fees, service of process, deposition transcripts, records retrieval, investigators, medical and psychological experts, trial exhibits, and travel. In cases against institutions, where the fight is often about what an organization knew and when, the records and expert work can run well into five figures before trial is on the calendar.
The question to settle early is who advances these costs and what happens if the case loses. Most firms advance expenses and recoup them from the recovery. A smaller number ask the client to remain liable for costs even if there is no recovery, which is permitted in many jurisdictions but is a real financial exposure and should be flagged in writing. This is one place where a larger firm's balance sheet is a practical advantage rather than a branding point: carrying six figures of expert costs for two years against a well-funded defendant is a capital question before it is a legal one.
Ask for a cost estimate by phase, not a single total. Pre-suit investigation, written discovery and depositions, expert work, and trial preparation have very different price tags, and most cases resolve before the expensive phases arrive.
Stage-based increases and the trigger that sets them off
Many agreements use a sliding scale: one rate if the matter resolves before a lawsuit is filed, a higher rate once suit is filed, and a higher rate still if the case is tried or appealed. The rates themselves are usually unremarkable. The trigger language is where to read slowly.
"Upon filing suit" and "upon the setting of a trial date" are different events, sometimes months apart. So is "after the commencement of trial" versus "after jury selection begins." A step-up of several percentage points on a substantial recovery is real money, and you are entitled to know exactly which act triggers it. Reasonable firms will tell you plainly, because the scale exists to match the fee to the work, not to surprise anyone.
When you interview a sexual assault lawyer about a claim against a school, employer, church, or care facility, ask specifically how the scale treats a case that is filed, mediated, and settled without a trial date, because that is the most common path.
Referrals, co-counsel, and the consent you have to give
Larger firms frequently work these cases with co-counsel, and claims are often referred between firms. Rules of professional conduct in most states allow fees to be divided between lawyers at different firms only under conditions: the division is proportional to the work each performs or both firms assume joint responsibility, the client agrees to the arrangement in writing, and the total fee is reasonable. The client is not supposed to pay more because two firms are involved.
That last point is the protection worth confirming out loud. A referral does not raise your rate. If the agreement in front of you contemplates co-counsel, it should name the firms, describe the split, and carry your signature on that specific term.
Liens, holdbacks, and the number you actually keep
After the fee and the costs, a recovery can still be reduced by health insurance subrogation, Medicare or Medicaid reimbursement, hospital liens, and outstanding provider balances. Resolving and negotiating those liens is substantive work, and good firms reduce them. Ask whether lien resolution is included in the fee or billed separately, and ask whether funds will be held in trust while liens are negotiated.
Tax treatment belongs on the same page. The IRS is responsible for how settlement proceeds are characterized and reported, and the distinction between physical injury damages, emotional distress, and punitive damages affects what is taxable and how attorney fees are treated. Get that question to a tax professional before the settlement is documented, not after, because the allocation written into the agreement is hard to revisit.
A fee agreement that spells out the base, the cost order, the step-up triggers, the co-counsel split, and the lien process is doing its job. Ask for each of those five in writing, read the closing statement against them when the case ends, and the percentage on the first page stops being a guess about what you will keep.
