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 16-105 actually requires
Rule 16-105 of the New Mexico Rules of Professional Conduct sets the baseline: a lawyer's fee must be reasonable, measured against factors including the time and labor required, the fee customarily charged locally for similar work, and whether the fee is fixed or contingent. A contingent fee agreement must be in writing, signed by the client.
A striking 2025 ruling about who sets the rules
In 2025, the New Mexico Supreme Court ruled that a statutory cap on attorney fees in appeals, enacted back in 1987, simply does not apply — because it conflicts with the judiciary's own constitutional authority to regulate "all pleading, practice and procedure in the courts." The legislature, the court held, had overstepped by trying to govern attorney compensation within the judicial system in a way that could conflict with reasonableness determinations made under the court's own rules. While this specific ruling concerned appellate fee awards rather than trial-level personal injury contingency fees, it signals just how firmly New Mexico's courts guard their own fee-setting authority against legislative encroachment.
No specific percentage written into law
Beyond the reasonableness requirement, New Mexico sets no specific percentage ceiling for a personal injury or medical malpractice contingency fee. The rate is negotiated privately between attorney and client — and as the State Bar's own ethics committee has acknowledged, there's no fixed number to point to as an upper limit.