Contingent fees are the lifeblood of a plaintiffs' practice.
To protect their right to a contingent fee, plaintiffs' lawyers
must ensure that they have a proper, written contingent 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 communicated in writing
before or within a reasonable time after commencing the
representation, and the writing must include certain, specified
information.1
Rule 1.5(c) also provides that "[n]o contingent fee
agreement shall be enforceable unless the lawyer has substantially
complied" with all the provisions of the Rule.2 A
form Contingent 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
