What a California Lawyer Costs: Contingency, Hourly, Flat Fee, and Retainers

A California lawyer charges in one of four ways — hourly, flat fee, contingency, or against a retainer — and which one applies is driven by the type of matter, not by preference alone. Two statutes control the paperwork: Business and Professions Code § 6148 requires a written fee agreement once the foreseeable total exceeds $1,000, and § 6147 governs every contingency agreement.

How do the four fee structures compare?

Hourly billing charges for time at a stated rate. A flat fee prices a defined task. A contingency fee takes an agreed share of what you actually recover, and nothing if you recover nothing. A retainer is money paid up front that the firm draws against as it works — it is a funding mechanism, not a fifth kind of fee.

The distinction that catches people out is between fees and costs. Fees compensate the lawyer. Costs are the case's out-of-pocket expenses: filing fees, deposition transcripts, expert witnesses, medical-record retrieval, service of process. In most agreements you owe costs regardless of how the fee is structured, and in contingency matters the question of whether the attorney's share is computed before or after costs come out of the recovery changes your net materially. Section 6147 requires the agreement to state how disbursements and costs affect both the fee and your recovery, so the answer is in the document you sign — read that clause specifically.

What percentage does a contingency lawyer take in California?

No percentage is set by law for an ordinary injury or employment claim. Section 6147 requires the written agreement to state, on its face, that the fee is not set by law and is negotiable between attorney and client. That disclosure exists precisely because there is no statutory rate to appeal to.

Treat any quoted figure as an opening position. The statute requires the contingency agreement to be in writing, signed by both attorney and client, with a duplicate copy given to the client; it must state the contingency rate, how disbursements and costs affect the fee, and that the rate is negotiable. There is one meaningful statutory exception. In claims against health care providers, Business and Professions Code § 6146 imposes a sliding-scale limit on what an attorney may charge on a contingency — medical malpractice is the one area where the Legislature capped the fee rather than leaving it to negotiation. Outside that category, the number in front of you was chosen, not mandated, and you may discuss it.

Read the fuller answer on what percentage personal injury lawyers take in California, or how attorney fee agreements work generally.

Is a free consultation really free — and what does it buy?

A consultation is an evaluation, not representation. It is commonly free in contingency matters, where the firm is assessing a case it may fund itself, and commonly billed in hourly matters. Confirm which before you book, because "free consultation" is a description of that firm's practice, not a rule.

Nothing you say is wasted if the lawyer declines the case. Rule 1.18 of the California Rules of Professional Conduct imposes a duty of confidentiality on information a lawyer learns from a prospective client, even where no representation follows. What a consultation does not do is create an attorney-client relationship on its own — for most paid work that requires an agreement, and under § 6148 a written one. Bring the documents, bring any deadline you are aware of, and ask four questions: how fees and costs work, who will actually handle the file, what the realistic timeline is, and how the firm communicates. See what happens at a free consultation.

What happens if you call a firm after hours?

Your call reaches voicemail, a live answering service, or an automated intake system. None of them is a lawyer. Under Business and Professions Code § 6125, only an active State Bar licensee may practice law in California, so intake can take your details and book you — it cannot evaluate your claim.

That distinction matters for confidentiality. Rule 1.18 protects what a prospective client tells a lawyer while consulting about representation; a message left with an answering service is not that consultation. Share enough to get a callback and save the detail for the attorney. It matters for timing, too: filing deadlines run on calendar days, not business days, and the shortest applicable deadline controls — a claim against a public entity can require a written claim within six months under Government Code § 911.2, long before the ordinary injury deadline. Firms increasingly route after-hours calls through an AI intake receptionist that answers every call and books the consultation rather than letting them fall to voicemail; this site uses one. If your deadline is close, say so in the message, and keep calling until a lawyer calls you back. More on calling a California law firm after hours.

Before you sign

Confirm the lawyer is an active licensee with no recent public discipline using the State Bar's official records — directories and rating services can lag. Then read the fee agreement for three clauses: the fee basis, how costs are treated, and, in a contingency matter, whether the attorney's share is calculated before or after costs. Those three lines determine what you actually keep.