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 detail most states don't address: fees on your own med-pay
Oklahoma ethics guidance has specifically addressed a question that rarely comes up explicitly elsewhere: can an attorney charge the same contingency percentage on money the client's own insurance carrier pays out without dispute, the way they would on money recovered from a third party? An Oklahoma Bar ethics opinion found that a percentage appropriate for a disputed third-party recovery may be excessive and unreasonable when applied to an undisputed payment from the client's own carrier.
Why the distinction matters
Rule 1.5(a)'s reasonableness standard weighs the actual time and effort a fee is compensating. Collecting an undisputed payment from a client's own insurer typically takes far less work than litigating a contested claim against a third party and their insurer — which is exactly why the same percentage may not be reasonable for both portions of a settlement.
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, including how any medical payments coverage is handled, depends entirely on the individual fee agreement.