Also known as: fee arrangements · fee agreement · attorneys' fees arrangement
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A contractual agreement between a lawyer and client that specifies the method and amount of the lawyer's compensation for legal services. The agreement must detail any contingent percentage of recovery, the allocation of litigation expenses, and the client's responsibility for costs regardless of outcome. It must be reduced to a signed writing when the fee is contingent on the matter's result.
Frontier Capital hired Fabian Flynn to pursue a contract claim against a supplier. The parties signed a written agreement stating that Flynn would receive thirty percent of any settlement or judgment after deducting expenses, with Frontier Capital remaining liable for costs if no recovery occurred. When the case settled, Flynn provided a closing statement allocating the recovery and expenses as required by the agreement.
Freeman Engineering ran an advertisement offering representation on a contingent basis with the statement that no legal fees would be owed if there was no recovery. The state bar required the firm to add a disclaimer clarifying that clients could still owe litigation costs. Freeman Engineering revised the ad to include the required language and continued the campaign without challenge.
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Yes. The agreement must be reduced to a writing signed by the client that states the percentage or percentages accruing to the lawyer, how expenses are deducted, and the client's liability for expenses whether or not the client prevails.
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No. Fee arrangements ordinarily fall outside the privilege because they reveal no confidential professional communication between attorney and client.
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Yes. States may mandate factual disclosures clarifying that clients remain liable for costs even when an ad states no legal fees are owed if there is no recovery, because the omission would otherwise be misleading.
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…crime-fraud exception applies, he cannot be compelled to testify because of the attorney-client privilege with respect to his fee arrangements with the client. However, the attorney-client privilege does not ordinarily extend to fee arrangements. In re Grand Jury Matter (Doe) , 787 F.2d 144, 145 (3d Cir.1986). While there may be…