If the action is resolved in favor of the plaintiff class, members are sent a notice and a claim form which provides instructions on how to receive a share of the settlement or verdict. If you own the shares directly you can expect that this notice will be sent to you. If the shares are owned in street name, the notice will be sent to your broker who then has the responsibility to send it directly to you. If you filled out a certification or otherwise petitioned the Court to be appointed as lead plaintiff you may have additional obligations enumerated in the Certification of Lead Plaintiff. It is very important to ask any attorney you retain to explain the fees they charge for representation.
Attorneys representing shareholders in class actions most often operate on a contingency basis.
The exact amount is determined and awarded by the court. If the class does not prevail, the attorneys do not get paid. Shareholders should not expect to receive all monies lost due to fraud back in the form of damages. Rather, most class action settlements return a percentage of the investment loss. Shareholders of a bankrupt company are not secured creditors and would be relegated to the end of a creditor list where they would be lucky to get anything at all.