Legal Question in Personal Injury in Alabama

No, such a request would not be considered "unreasonable." Since your post is under Alabama law, I assume you are interested in a contingency fee agreement with an Alabama attorney. (Some States already have tiered contingnecy fees by statute or regulation but not so in Alabama.) In Alabama a contingency fee contract is subject to agreement by both parties. The amount of the contingency fee is often based upon the amount of work required by the attorney and the risk associated with the particular claim or case. Cases involving complex medical causation issues and/or questionable success on the issue of liability and/or cases involving a large cash outlay by the attorney for litigation expenses such as doctor depositions and/or expert witness costs, may justify the attorney asking for a higher contingency fee than the typical or standard one-third fee agreement. These are all issues you can discuss with the attorney to better understand his or her position regarding their preferred contingency fee.