What is a Contingency Fee Agreement?

In a contingency fee agreement, instead of paying an attorney on an hourly or flat fee basis, the client agrees that the attorney’s fee will be a percentage of any recovery in the case. In most contingency fee agreements, the costs are an additional expense, which are paid out of the recovery at the end of the case. Since the clietn does not have to pay an attorney up front, contingency agreements give people who may not be able to afford to hire an attorney, a chance to hire a lawyer to protect their legal rights.