California Lawyer Costs: Fees and Retainers Explained

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. This is general information about how fees are structured under California law, not advice about any one matter.

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.

How rates and structures actually fall out by practice area varies widely. A personal injury matter is commonly contingency, while business litigation is commonly hourly against a retainer.

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. Our medical malpractice overview covers how that area differs.

As of August 2026, California sets no general statutory percentage for contingency fees in injury or employment cases. Business and Professions Code § 6147 requires only that the written agreement disclose the rate, state how costs and disbursements affect the fee and the client's recovery, and state that the rate is not fixed by law and is negotiable. The single carve-out is § 6146, which caps attorney contingency fees in claims against health care providers on a sliding scale tied to the amount recovered. Because the ordinary rate is negotiated rather than mandated, two clients with similar cases may sign different percentages. The controlling terms are always in the signed agreement, not in a quoted headline number, so the document itself is the record to read.

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" describes 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 to bring to a first meeting with a California attorney.

Why do filing deadlines affect what a case costs?

A missed deadline can end a case before any fee arrangement matters, so timing sits alongside cost as a threshold question. 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 in Code Civ. Proc. § 335.1.

Why this belongs on a cost page: a contingency firm evaluating your case is weighing the deadline as part of whether it will fund the matter at all, and an hourly lawyer will price the work partly by how much time remains. For how these windows are set across common claim types, see California statute of limitations filing deadlines and how long you have to file a personal injury claim.

Before you sign

Confirm the lawyer is an active licensee with no recent public discipline using the State Bar's official records, because directories and rating services can lag. The California Attorney Registry is an independent index of that public roll; it issues no ratings, rankings or scores and operates no referral service. You can start from our directory of California attorneys and read how to verify a California attorney's license.

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. Under Business and Professions Code § 6125, only an active State Bar licensee may practice law in California, so intake staff and answering services can take your details but cannot evaluate your claim. This page explains what the law requires of fee agreements. It does not tell you which structure fits your situation.