The most common reason injured people give for not calling a lawyer is that they cannot afford one. It is a reasonable assumption and, in personal injury work, an incorrect one. Nearly every injury firm in Arizona operates on a contingency fee, which means the client pays nothing up front and the firm gets paid only out of a recovery.
Understanding how that arrangement actually works, including the parts that are not the fee, is worth ten minutes before you sign anything.
What a Contingency Fee Is
The lawyer’s fee is a percentage of whatever is recovered. No recovery means no fee. There is no hourly billing, no retainer, and no monthly invoice.
The percentage commonly steps up depending on how far the case has to go. A case resolved with the insurance company before a lawsuit is filed typically carries a lower percentage than one that requires litigation, and litigation carries a lower percentage than a case tried to a jury or taken up on appeal. That structure exists because the work and the risk increase enormously at each stage. Each firm sets its own numbers, and Arizona requires them to be spelled out in writing before you commit to anything.
Why Injury Firms Work This Way
Contingency fees shift risk from the client to the firm. Someone out of work with a stack of medical bills cannot pay hundreds of dollars an hour to litigate against a carrier that has effectively unlimited resources. Under this model the firm funds the case and absorbs the loss if it fails.
It also aligns incentives. A firm paid by the hour earns the same whether a case settles for $15,000 or $150,000. A firm paid a percentage does not.
What Arizona Requires in Writing
Arizona regulates this more strictly than most people realize. Under ER 1.5 of the Arizona Rules of Professional Conduct, adopted as Rule 42 of the Rules of the Supreme Court, a contingent fee agreement must be in a writing signed by the client. That writing must state the method by which the fee is determined, including the specific percentages that apply in the event of settlement, trial, or appeal. It must identify the litigation and other expenses to be deducted from the recovery, and it must state whether those expenses come out before or after the fee is calculated. It must also clearly notify you of any expenses you will owe whether or not you win.
At the end of the case, the lawyer must give you a written statement showing the outcome and, if there was a recovery, how the remittance to you was calculated.
Arizona also forbids contingent fees entirely in two settings. Criminal defense, and domestic relations matters where the fee turns on securing a divorce or on the amount of support or property settlement.
If a firm will not put its fee structure in writing before you sign, that is not a negotiating style. It is a rule violation.
Fees and Costs Are Not the Same Thing
This is where most misunderstandings live.
The fee is the percentage that compensates the firm for its work. Costs are the out of pocket expenses of building the case. Court filing fees. Deposition transcripts. Medical records requests, which add up faster than anyone expects. Accident reconstruction. Medical opinion witnesses. Investigators. Trial exhibits.
Most injury firms advance these costs and recover them from the settlement. A case that needs reconstruction and multiple medical opinions can run into serious money, which is one reason preserving evidence early matters financially as well as legally. It is far cheaper to photograph a vehicle than to reconstruct a crash from a repaired one.
Ask one question directly. If the case loses, am I responsible for repaying the costs? Firms answer that differently, and ER 1.5 requires the answer to appear in your agreement.
Before or After Changes the Math
Whether costs are deducted before or after the fee is calculated affects what you actually receive, and the difference is not trivial.
Take a $90,000 settlement with a one third fee and $9,000 in costs. Deduct costs first and the fee is calculated on $81,000. Deduct the fee first and it is calculated on the full $90,000. Same settlement, different net to the client. Arizona requires the agreement to specify which method applies, so read that sentence rather than skipping it.
Liens Also Come Out
A settlement often has to satisfy obligations before anything reaches you. Health insurance subrogation claims. Medical provider liens, including from treatment rendered on a letter of protection. AHCCCS or Medicare reimbursement where public benefits paid for care.
Negotiating these down is real work and it directly increases your net recovery, which is why the headline settlement figure is never the number that matters. The breakdown of what damages cover explains what the gross figure is meant to compensate in the first place.
Questions Worth Asking
What percentages apply at each stage. Who advances costs and whether you repay them if the case loses. Whether costs come off before or after the fee. Who will actually handle your file day to day. How often you will hear from them. And what happens if you change lawyers midway.
The State Bar of Arizona publishes consumer brochures on working with an attorney through its Public Service Center, and the same site lets you verify any Arizona lawyer’s license status and discipline history.
Does a Lawyer Actually Leave You Better Off
It depends on the case, which is the honest answer. Small property damage claims with no injury rarely need representation. Anything involving disputed fault, a serious injury, a commercial defendant, or a government entity generally does. Our guide to when to hire counsel walks through where the line usually falls, and how long cases take explains what you are committing to.
Talk to an Arizona Injury Attorney
You should understand exactly what a firm charges before you sign with anyone, including us. Citrine Law represents injured people across Yuma County and southwestern Arizona and never insurance companies. We handle injury claims of every kind, including collision cases. The consultation is free, our fee agreement is in writing before you commit to anything, and we are paid only if we recover for you. Reach out today.