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.
Mississippi's advance rule reaches further than most
Most states restrict what a personal injury attorney can advance on a client's behalf to court costs and litigation expenses alone. Mississippi's Rule 1.8(e) specifically permits a lawyer to also advance reasonable medical expenses related to the injury at issue and reasonable living expenses, with repayment contingent on the case's outcome. That's a genuinely meaningful difference for a client facing real bills — medical or otherwise — while the case is still working its way through the system.
The agreement still has to spell out the details
Regardless of how broad the advance can be, Rule 1.5(c) still requires the written contingency fee agreement to state what litigation and other expenses will be deducted from the recovery, and whether those expenses come out before or after the contingent fee itself is calculated — a detail worth confirming explicitly rather than assuming.
Who fronts the money while the case is pending
Commonly, the attorney's office advances these costs — and in Mississippi, potentially certain medical and living expenses too — as the litigation proceeds, with reimbursement coming out of the eventual settlement or award. The specific arrangement, including what happens to those advances if the case doesn't result in any recovery, depends entirely on the individual fee agreement.