What contingency means in practice
You do not pay to hire the firm. The firm advances the work. If the claim results in a settlement or award, the firm's fee is a percentage of that recovery. If there is no recovery, there is no fee. That is what "no fee unless we win" refers to.
Case costs are separate from the fee
Costs are the out-of-pocket expenses of building a claim — records requests, expert reviews, filing fees if a case is filed. How costs are handled varies: some agreements deduct them from the recovery separately from the fee, and some handle them differently. This is a fair thing to ask any firm to explain in plain language.
Whether the percentage changes
Some agreements set one percentage for the life of the case, and some change the percentage if a lawsuit is filed or a case goes further. Neither approach is wrong. What matters is that the agreement states it clearly and that you understand it before signing.
Questions worth asking
What the percentage is. Whether it ever changes, and when. How case costs are handled and whether they're deducted before or after the fee. Whether the consultation is free. Any firm should be glad to answer all four in writing.
Where to go from here
Our Phoenix car accident lawyer page describes how we work Phoenix cases, and there's a full guide on how to choose a car accident lawyer in Phoenix. A free consultation is available any hour — in English or Spanish. (602) 217-0000.