Media reports of multimillion-dollar jury awards and TV lawyer dramas have contributed to creating the popularly held notion that lawyers automatically get a third if they win or settle such contingent-fee cases, and no fee if they lose. But no one-third standard exists. What's more, personal injury lawyers who imply it does, or who let misinformed clients think it does, violate their profession's code of ethics.

"It might sound quaint, but lawyers have an ethical obligation to protect their clients' interests, to advise them of their options, and to charge them reasonable fees. Yet, personal injury lawyers take advantage of the fact that virtually all consumers believe that personal injury cases must be taken on a contingent fee basis and that the client can't negotiate the percentage of the contingent fee."

Although competition is brutal among lawyers trying to land serious injury victims as clients, (David) Giacalone says he found no suggestion of price competition in scouring dozens of Yellow Pages ads and "tacky TV and radio commercials" of personal injury lawyers. "Instead of telling clients their rights," he says, "virtually every personal injury lawyer presents the client with a contingent fee contract that states `the standard fee' and the client blindly accepts it."