ABSTRACT
This chapter talks about the available information concerning one important method of financing legal services—the contingent fee. While legal services must be readily available to all who need them, it is equally important to preserve the quality, particularly the ethical quality, of these services for future as well as current clients. The major arguments against contingent fees are that the gamble on the outcome introduces a speculative attitude toward law practice which is inconsistent with the detachment essential to a profession. The chapter presents a summary of the current law on contingent fees as reflected in court decisions, statutes, and regulations. The importance of the contingent fee is assessed by examining the extent of its use in court litigation and administrative proceedings, the proportion it represents of clients' expenditures for legal services and lawyers' income, and the nature of alternative methods of financing litigation.
