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.
A third concept worth knowing: the charging lien
If a client discharges their attorney before the case concludes, the attorney may be entitled to a charging lien — a claim on a portion of the eventual recovery for the value of work already performed. A 2023 Ohio ethics opinion specifically addressed whether such a lien can be based on the highest settlement offer received before discharge, rather than the attorney's actual work performed, and found that structure can unreasonably burden the client and, in some circumstances, produce an excessive fee.
Why this distinction matters if representation changes mid-case
If a client is considering changing attorneys partway through an Ohio personal injury case, understanding how a departing attorney's fee or lien will be calculated — separate from ongoing case costs and separate from whatever the new attorney charges — is worth clarifying directly before making that change.
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 depends entirely on the individual fee agreement.