Fees based or conditioned on future occurrences or conclusions, or on the results of service to be performed. Contingency fees are used by lawyers representing patients as plaintiffs in malpractice cases and are usually a set fraction (commonly a third) of any settlement awarded the patient. If no settlement is awarded, the lawyer is not paid. Such fees are said to give the lawyer incentives to try the case with full vigor, choose only cases which are likely to succeed, choose only eases which will have large settlements, and increase the amount of settlements sought.
A fee which is paid to an attorney only if the client wins. Contingency-fee arrangements are commonly used in malpractice cases, where the attorney receives a portion (usually about one-third) of the amount awarded the plaintiff by the court or in an out-of-court settlement. If the plaintiff receives nothing, the attorney receives nothing (except reimbursement of expenses).
A wage charged by a legal professional for services rendered, payable only if the injured party wins damages as a result of the successful resolution of a suit. Contingency fees usually consist of a percentage of the damages recovered by the injured party.