The core promise: no recovery, no fee
A contingency fee means the attorney's fee is contingent — dependent — on actually winning or settling the case. If there's no recovery at all, the client generally owes no attorney fee, regardless of how much work went into the case.
Before vs. after filing a lawsuit
Some Alabama fee agreements set a different percentage depending on the stage at which the case resolves: a lower rate if the claim settles before a lawsuit is ever filed, and a higher rate once a lawsuit has actually been filed, reflecting the real additional work and risk litigation brings. This isn't required by Alabama statute — it's a matter of what the specific agreement says, so it's worth reading the fee agreement itself rather than assuming a single flat rate applies throughout.
Case expenses: a separate question from the fee itself
Who pays case expenses — expert witness fees, filing fees, the cost of gathering medical records — if the case doesn't result in a recovery is addressed separately from the contingency fee promise itself. Many agreements have the attorney advance these costs during the case, with the client's ultimate responsibility for them spelled out in the agreement's own terms.
Not every matter can use a contingency fee
Alabama's Rules of Professional Conduct exclude certain types of matters from contingency fee arrangements entirely — most domestic relations cases and criminal defense among them. Personal injury claims are not among these excluded categories, which is exactly why the contingency model is so common in this area of practice.
It's a negotiated agreement, not a fixed rate
Because Alabama imposes no statutory cap on the percentage, the specific rate, and any stage-based adjustments, are set through private negotiation between attorney and client before representation begins — worth discussing explicitly rather than assuming a single standard figure applies everywhere.