What's hiding in some lawyers' retainer agreements?

Learn what to look for before signing!

Most people know one thing about contingency fees from all the highway billboards: You don’t pay unless you win.

That promise is real—and it’s one of the reasons contingency fees are often defended as a cornerstone of access to justice. They allow people without money to hire lawyers to take on powerful corporations. In many cases, they can work exactly as intended.

But mass torts are not ordinary cases.

In the world I investigate in The Pain Brokers, contingency fee contracts become something else entirely. They stack on top of referral fees, co-counsel agreements, common benefit assessments, and “costs” that clients never meaningfully understand or negotiate. By the time a settlement arrives, the money has already been carved up—often long before the injured person sees a dollar.

What looks simple on the front end can become nearly impossible to decipher on the back end. And the people least equipped to navigate that complexity—the injured in need of justice—bear the consequences.

The video I’m sharing today annotates Jerri Plummer’s retainer agreement. Jerri is a character in The Pain Brokers, but she is also very much a real person with real problems that were exacerbated by what was in her retainer agreement, including an arbitration provision.

This isn’t an argument against contingency fees themselves, which remain important. It’s an argument for transparency, accountability, and remembering who the system is supposed to serve. Know your client rights!