Almost all personal injury and wrongful death cases in the United States are handled on a contingent fee basis. That means that the lawyer is paid only in proportion to the amount recovered for the client. If there is no recovery, the lawyer is not paid. If money is recovered from the other side, the lawyer is paid an agreed percentage of that recovery plus reimbursement of the lawyer’s out of pocket expenses.
Years ago, when I was handling business-to-business commercial collection cases for small businesses in my hometown, I always gave those business clients the option of paying