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 Vermont Rules of Professional Conduct requires that a fee be reasonable, assessed against factors including the time and labor required, the skill needed, the fee customarily charged for similar work, the amount involved, and the attorney's experience. There's no fixed percentage written into the rule itself.
One standard across case types
Unlike some states that apply a separate, stricter statutory fee schedule to medical malpractice specifically, Vermont holds malpractice contingency fees to the same Rule 1.5 reasonableness analysis as any other personal injury contingency fee — no distinct numeric cap applies to either.
A failed attempt that confirms the status quo
Vermont House Bill 663 (2010) would have moved the state toward a national trend of special medical malpractice rules, requiring arbitration of malpractice claims and limiting noneconomic and non-pecuniary damage recovery. The bill, sponsored by nine General Assembly members, did not become law — Vermont remains a state with no damages cap in malpractice cases, and its contingency fee rule has never had a malpractice-specific carve-out either.
No specific percentage written into law
Beyond the reasonableness requirement, Vermont 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.