Using Your Fee Arrangement to Lower Litigation Costs

But I am going to try to persuade you to adopt or least consider a different fee arrangement ' contingency. It is really simple: Having an economic stake in what one is doing creates an urgency, like no other, that heightens one's desire to both work efficiently and strive for the best possible result. It is precisely why employing litigation lawyers on solely an hourly basis is a flawed concept for both client and lawyer. Sure, most hourly litigation lawyers have sufficient professionalism and ego to strive to win, regardless of how they are paid. But there is an old saying within the plaintiffs' bar that, 'Defense lawyers get paid per diem, plaintiff lawyers get paid perchance.' Behind this old saw is an economic truism ' hourly lawyers get paid no matter what the result, contingent lawyers get paid only when they produce a positive result.

Moreover, when lawyers agree to accept a stake in the outcome as part of their compensation, it means that they must perform a cold evaluation of the litigation's prospects. If they accept contingency as part of their compensation you know that they have concluded that your case has sufficient merit that they are willing to tie some or all of their compensation to the case's prospects.