How Much Do Personal Injury Lawyers Charge in Florida?

Almost every Florida personal injury lawyer charges a contingency fee: no attorney's fee unless there is a recovery, and a percentage of the recovery if there is one. How much a personal injury lawyer can charge in Florida is not left to the market. Rule 4-1.5 of the Rules Regulating The Florida Bar sets a schedule, and a fee above it is presumed clearly excessive unless a court approved it first. For most cases the numbers are 33⅓% of the first $1 million if the case resolves before the defendant answers the lawsuit, and 40% after.

Those two numbers are where most articles stop. They leave out three things that change what you actually take home: the event that moves you from 33⅓% to 40% is not the one usually described, costs can be subtracted before or after the fee, and the schedule is a ceiling you are allowed to bargain under.

This page explains the rule. It is not a quote of our own fee; that goes in writing, in the contract, before anyone signs.

The Florida Contingency Fee Schedule

This is the schedule in Rule 4-1.5(f)(4)(B)(i). It applies to claims for personal injury, property damage, or death resulting from someone else's tortious conduct, including products liability. The percentages stack: each applies only to the slice of the recovery in its column.

On top of any of those rows, the rule allows an additional 5% of any recovery once an appellate proceeding is filed or post-judgment action is needed to collect on a judgment, under (f)(4)(B)(i)d.

What the schedule is not: a fixed price. The Statement of Client's Rights, which every client must receive and sign, opens by saying there is "no legal requirement that a lawyer charge a client a set fee or a percentage of money recovered in a case," and that you may bargain about the rate "as in any other contract." Lawyers can charge less. They cannot charge more without a judge's approval, which under (f)(4)(B)(ii) is available only when a client cannot get the lawyer of their choice within the schedule, and only if the court finds the client fully understands the contract.

A large-case example, figured at the maximum after an answer: on a $1.5 million recovery the fee would be 40% of $1 million ($400,000) plus 30% of the next $500,000 ($150,000), or $550,000. That is about 36.7% of the whole, not 40%.

What Actually Moves You From 33⅓% to 40%

Search this question and you will read that the fee goes up "once a lawsuit is filed" or "once litigation begins." The rule says something narrower. The lower tier runs until the filing of an answer or the demand for appointment of arbitrators, or, if neither happens, until the time allowed for them expires. The higher tier starts after that.

In practice, the complaint gets filed and served, and then the defendant has a period to respond. If the case settles in that window, before an answer is filed or due, it is still a pre-answer recovery under the schedule. A contract can set lower percentages or a later trigger. A fee above the schedule for the stage the case actually reached is presumed clearly excessive unless a court approved it in advance, so if your contract ties the higher percentage to some other event, such as filing suit, ask the lawyer to explain it in plain terms before you sign.

The third row of the table matters less often but is easy to miss: if every defendant admits liability in its answer and asks for a trial only on damages, the ceiling stays at 33⅓% of the first $1 million and drops to 20% and 15% above it.

Fees vs. Costs: The Clause That Changes Your Check

The fee is what the lawyer earns. Costs are money spent on the case: filing and service fees, medical records, depositions, expert witnesses. They are usually advanced by the firm and repaid out of the recovery. Since May 2, 2022, Rule 4-1.5(f)(1) has required every Florida contingency agreement to state the costs to be deducted from the recovery and whether they are deducted before or after the fee is calculated.

Here is why that clause matters. Take a hypothetical $90,000 settlement before any answer, with $6,000 in costs, at a 33⅓% fee:

Same case, same percentage, $2,000 difference. The gap grows with the costs, which is why expert-heavy cases such as truck crashes are where this clause matters most.

Then come the other people owed out of the recovery: unpaid medical providers, health insurers and others with a lien or reimbursement right. Since 2022 the closing statement the lawyer gives you at the end must itemize the costs, the fee of each lawyer or firm sharing in it, and the payments to third parties made from the recovery. Under the Statement of Client's Rights, no money goes out to anyone, you included, until you approve that statement or a court orders otherwise.

Cases With Different Fee Limits

• Medical malpractice. Article I, § 26 of the Florida Constitution (opens in a new tab), adopted by the voters in 2004, entitles a medical liability claimant with a contingency fee to at least 70% of the first $250,000 in damages and 90% of everything above it, exclusive of reasonable and customary costs. A client can give up that protection only by a written waiver under the Bar rule. Our guide to Florida's "free kill" medical malpractice rule covers the other ways these cases differ.
• Claims against the government. FL § 768.28(8) (opens in a new tab) says no attorney may charge or collect more than 25% of any judgment or settlement in a claim against the state or its agencies and subdivisions, which the statute defines to include counties and municipalities. Those claims also have their own caps and deadlines, explained in Florida did not raise the injury caps on government claims.
• Workers' compensation. Not a contingency percentage you negotiate at all. Under FL § 440.34(1) (opens in a new tab), a judge of compensation claims must approve any fee, and the statute sets it: 20% of the first $5,000 of benefits secured, 15% of the next $5,000, 10% of the rest for the first 10 years after the claim is filed, and 5% after that.

Your Rights Before and After You Sign

The rule requires the contract to be in writing and signed by the client and the lawyer, and the lawyer must give you the Statement of Client's Rights for Contingency Fees before you sign, explain it, and give you a signed copy to keep. The rights that matter most for money:

• Three business days to cancel. Cancel in writing within 3 business days of signing and you owe no fee, though the lawyer may recover amounts actually advanced to others for you. (f)(4)(A)(ii)
• You decide whether to settle. Your lawyer must tell you about every settlement offer. The final decision to accept or reject is yours.
• You know who is working on the case. The lawyer must say up front whether other lawyers will help and how any fee will be shared. Lawyers from another firm must sign the contract, and a later referral calls for a new contract.
• A fee split cannot raise your fee. Between firms, the primary lawyer gets at least 75% of the fee and the secondary lawyer no more than 25%, unless a court approves otherwise. (f)(4)(D)
• You can ask about the costs. You have the right to know in advance how fees and costs will be paid, to get a reasonable estimate of future costs, and to be told whether the fee is based on the gross recovery or the recovery minus costs.
• You will be told what losing could cost. The lawyer must explain possible adverse consequences, including costs you might owe and any liability for the other side's fees and costs. A rejected offer of judgment under FL § 768.79 (opens in a new tab) is one way that liability can arise.
• You can report an excessive fee. If you believe a fee is excessive or illegal, you may report it to The Florida Bar.

When a Contingency Fee May Not Be Worth It

A percentage fee makes sense when a lawyer is likely to change the result: disputed fault, serious injury, several insurers, an injury that will need future care. It is a harder bargain when the claim is small and nobody disputes it. A property-damage-only claim, or a minor injury fully covered by your own PIP, may not need a lawyer at all. Our guide to whether you need a lawyer for a Florida car accident goes through those cases honestly.

If an insurer has already offered money before you call anyone, say so in the consultation, and ask how the fee would treat that offer. Because the percentage is negotiable, that is a fair thing to bargain over.

And do not let the fee conversation run out your clock. Florida's general deadline to sue for negligence is two years under FL § 95.11(5)(a), and some claims run on different clocks. Our statute of limitations calculator gives you the date for your type of claim.

Six Questions to Ask Before You Sign

1. What percentage applies at each stage, and what event moves the case from one to the next.
2. Whether costs come out before or after the fee is calculated (the contract must say).
3. What happens to advanced costs if there is no recovery.
4. Whether another firm will work on the case or share the fee, and on what split.
5. Who will actually handle the file day to day.
6. How the fee applies to any money the insurer already offered before you hired anyone.

Florida Personal Injury Lawyer Fees — FAQ

Sources

The fee schedule and client rights come from the text of Rule 4-1.5 filed with the Supreme Court of Florida; the Court's 2022 amendment changed subdivision (f)(1) and left the schedule unchanged. Statutes are the 2026 Florida Statutes published by the Florida Senate. Verify any of it yourself:

• Supreme Court of Florida, SC20-1467 (Mar. 3, 2022) — amendments to Rule 4-1.5(a) and (f)(1), effective May 2, 2022 (opens in a new tab)
• Rules Regulating The Florida Bar, Rule 4-1.5 text incl. fee schedule and Statement of Client's Rights, as filed with the Supreme Court of Florida (SC10-1967, Appendix A) (opens in a new tab)
• Fla. Const. art. I, § 26 — Claimant's right to fair compensation (medical liability) (opens in a new tab)
• Fla. Stat. § 768.28 (2026) — Waiver of sovereign immunity; 25% fee limit in (8) (opens in a new tab)
• Fla. Stat. § 440.34 (2026) — Workers' compensation attorney's fees (opens in a new tab)
• Fla. Stat. § 95.11 (2026) — Limitations; negligence in (5)(a) (opens in a new tab)
• Fla. Stat. § 768.79 (2026) — Offer of judgment and demand for judgment (opens in a new tab)

This article is general information about Florida law and Florida Bar rules, not legal advice about your case, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. The dollar figures are hypothetical arithmetic, not results or estimates. Rules change and individual facts matter.