The attorney's fee: compensation for the work
The contingency fee is the attorney's own compensation for handling the case — calculated as a percentage of the settlement or award. It's earnings, not a reimbursement, and it's what the attorney keeps for taking on the risk and the work of the case.
Case costs: real expenses the case required
Case costs are something entirely different: actual out-of-pocket expenses the case genuinely needed. This typically includes expert witness fees, court filing fees, the cost of obtaining medical records, deposition transcripts, and similar litigation expenses. These are reimbursed, not earned.
Maryland makes the calculation order an explicit disclosure
Here's what makes Maryland genuinely distinctive: Rule 19-301.5(c) specifically requires the written retainer agreement to state whether the contingency fee is calculated before or after case expenses are deducted. Both methods are legal, but a client signing without reading this particular clause closely might not realize the practical consequence.
The difference, worked through a real example
On a $100,000 recovery with $20,000 in case costs and a one-third contingency fee: calculating the fee before costs applies 33.3% to the full $100,000 (a $33,333 fee), leaving $46,667 after costs. Calculating the fee after costs applies that same 33.3% to the $80,000 remaining once costs are subtracted first (a $26,667 fee), leaving $53,333. Same recovery, same percentage, nearly $6,700 difference in what the client actually keeps — purely from the order of operations.
Who fronts the money while the case is pending
Commonly, the attorney's office advances case costs as the litigation proceeds, with reimbursement coming out of the eventual settlement or award. The specific arrangement, including what happens to those advanced costs if the case doesn't result in any recovery, depends entirely on the individual fee agreement.