Contingent Fees: Conversion Clauses, Withdrawal And Termination, And Fee Forfeiture

Contingent fees are the lifeblood of a plaintiffs' practice. To protect their right to a contingent fee, plaintiffs' law - yers must ensure that they have a proper, written contin gent fee agreement, signed by the client(s).

Colorado Rule of Professional Conduct 1.5(c) requires that the terms of a contingent fee agreement be communi - cated in writing before or within a reasonable time after commencing the representation, and the writing must in - clude certain, specified information¹

Rule 1.5(c) also provides that "[n]o contingent fee agree - ment shall be enforceable unless the lawyer has substantially complied" with all the provisions of the Rule.² A form Con - tingent Fee Agreement is provided as an appendix to Rule 1.5, and that form Agreement "shall be sufficient to comply with paragraph (c)(1) of this Rule [1.5]."³