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.
Arizona's distinctive rule: reasonableness at the end, not just the start
Most states judge a contingency fee's fairness mainly at the moment it's signed. Arizona goes further. In In re Swartz, 141 Ariz. 266 (1984), the Arizona Supreme Court held that a fee reasonable when the agreement was made can still become "clearly excessive" by the time the case concludes, if the actual work performed and the results obtained don't justify it.
What actually happened in Swartz
The case involved an attorney who spent roughly 20 to 30 hours handling a personal injury claim under a standard one-third contingency agreement. A workers' compensation lien then consumed almost the entire settlement once the attorney's fee came out, leaving the client with very little. The Arizona Supreme Court found the fee excessive in light of what the case actually required and what the client actually received — even though the agreement itself was standard when signed.
What this doesn't mean
This isn't a rule that forces every fee down after the fact — Swartz addressed facts the court viewed as genuinely egregious. The ordinary standard, under ER 1.5(a), weighs factors like the time and labor required, the complexity of the case, and the results actually obtained — Swartz simply confirms that those factors can still matter after the agreement is signed, not just before.
It's still a negotiated agreement
Because Arizona imposes no statutory cap on the percentage, the specific rate is set through private negotiation between attorney and client before representation begins — worth discussing explicitly, including how liens and case costs will be handled, rather than assuming a single standard figure applies everywhere.