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.
What Rule 19-301.5 actually requires
Maryland Rule 19-301.5 governs attorney fees broadly. Subsection (a) sets the baseline: a lawyer's fee must be reasonable, measured against an eight-factor test. Subsection (c), specific to contingent fees, requires the written agreement to state how the fee is calculated — including, critically, whether that calculation happens before or after case expenses are deducted.
Reasonableness isn't a one-time check at signing
Maryland ethics guidance makes a point worth understanding: a contingent fee's reasonableness has to be reassessed once the fee is actually quantified at the end of the case, not simply judged by whether the arrangement looked fair on the day the client signed it. A fee that seemed reasonable going in can become excessive once the result is known — and if it does, the attorney is expected to reduce it.
Client agreement alone doesn't settle the question
Maryland ethics guidance is explicit that a client's agreement to a fee arrangement doesn't by itself make that fee reasonable. The attorney still has to independently satisfy the Rule 1.5(a) factors, regardless of what the client consented to at the outset.
No specific percentage written into law
Beyond these procedural and ethical requirements, Maryland sets no specific percentage ceiling for a personal injury or medical malpractice contingency fee. The rate is negotiated privately between attorney and client, commonly landing between 33.3% and 40% of the total recovery.