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 RSA 508:4-e actually requires
RSA 508:4-e sets three requirements: the fee is governed by Rule of Professional Conduct 1.5's reasonableness standard; the attorney must advise the client of their right to retain the attorney on an hourly basis instead, before entering the contingency arrangement; and — the genuinely distinctive piece — any case settling or resulting in judgment of $200,000 or more requires court approval of all fees and costs.
A broader reach than most states' court-approval rules
Where many states that require court sign-off on a contingency fee limit that requirement to medical malpractice claims specifically, New Hampshire's $200,000 threshold applies to personal injury actions generally. A substantial car accident settlement is just as subject to this review as a substantial malpractice settlement would be.
A fee-limit statute that's been dead letter since 1980
Worth knowing: RSA chapter 507-C once contained specific percentage limits on contingency fees in medical injury actions — written directly into the same chapter that also held the $250,000 damages cap. When the New Hampshire Supreme Court declared that entire chapter unconstitutional and non-severable in Carson v. Maurer (1980), the fee-limit provisions fell along with everything else. The text can still technically be found in the state code, but it hasn't been enforceable in decades.
No specific percentage written into current law
Beyond the reasonableness requirement and the $200,000 court-approval threshold, New Hampshire sets no specific percentage ceiling for a personal injury contingency fee. The rate is negotiated privately between attorney and client, commonly ranging from one-third to 40% of the total recovery.