Legal Question in Business Law in California

Re: insurance subrogation

I suppose it depends upon what you mean by "valid." A brief scribble with some important terms left out might be sufficiently "valid" for it to be recognized as a binding contract and enforced, to some extent at least, by a court. Such a scribble probably wouldn't meet the client-protection requirements of the attorney-client fee-agreement provisions of the Business and Professions Code sections 6147 and 6148 covering contingency and non-contingency fee contracts, respectively. Finally, most attorneys, especially in insurance subrogation situations, would want provisions going beyond the minimum set forth in the B&P Code, primarily for their own protection, but also to avoid misunderstandings and disputes.