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 1.5 actually requires
Rule 1.5 of the South Dakota Rules of Professional Conduct requires that a fee be reasonable, assessed against eight factors: the time and labor required, the novelty and difficulty of the questions involved, the skill needed, the fee customarily charged in the locality for similar legal services, the amount involved, and whether the fee is fixed or contingent, among others.
Flat fees get the same scrutiny
South Dakota ethics guidance has addressed this directly. State Bar Ethics Opinion 2000-5a confirms that a flat-fee agreement, even for a specific service, must still allow for a review of the fee at the conclusion of representation to ensure it remains reasonable under those same eight factors — the structure of the fee doesn't change the underlying standard it has to meet.
A refund right if the attorney is discharged early
Related guidance confirms that under Rule 1.16(d), a client who discharges their lawyer is entitled to a refund of any advanced payment of fee that has not yet been earned — relevant context for anyone considering changing attorneys partway through a case, even outside a strict contingency arrangement.
No specific percentage written into law
Beyond the reasonableness requirement, South Dakota sets no specific percentage ceiling for a personal injury contingency fee. The rate is negotiated privately between attorney and client, with one-third of the recovery being a commonly used figure in practice.