Costs are things that your lawyer must pay to progress the claims filing process. For example, if there is a fee to collect medical records, that fee is considered a cost. Likewise, hiring expert witnesses may come at a cost as well. These costs are often deducted from the total compensation before lawyers calculate their contingency fees, but if they are not, the entire settlement you receive will be lower, and the lawyer will collect more. This is not inherently bad, but you should not go into a personal injury case not knowing this. Consider this example. A lawyer charges you a 40 percent contingency fee, and your case wins $24,000 in total compensation, but there were $4,000 in additional costs. If your lawyer does not deduct these costs from the total, your lawyer will receive a $6,000 fee from your settlement, and you will get $14,000. The lawyer subtracting the expenses will result in them getting a $5,000 fee and you getting $15,000. But if the initial settlement offer was for $8,000 and your medical bills topped $9,000, your lawyer more than paid for themself. More about costs A lot of the time, standard costs will be stated in any agreement you sign with your lawyer. Often, court filing, long-distance calls, and copying incur additional fees. Other costs that can arise may not be as essential but still costly. Therefore, you must ensure your lawyer defines any costs you might need to pay throughout the trial. If you don't, you may be surprised when your final compensation is smaller than you expected.