MDL leadership (lead counsel and steering committees) does the common work: master discovery, expert development, bellwether trials, settlement negotiation. Courts fund that work by ordering a percentage held back from every claimant's recovery — including claimants whose own lawyers did none of the common work.
Real orders: 3% in DePuy ASR, 7.5% in the opioid MDL, 9% in 3M earplugs (funding roughly $540 million in leadership fees), 11% in Hair Relaxer. The holdback stacks with your contingency fee, case expenses, and any liens — all before your net.
Sources & attribution