Maybe it’s different here. The ones I’ve seen—and it was awhile ago—were e.g., 25% if settled, 30-40 if verdict or judgment, 40 or more if appellate work were required. But definitely a lower amount for settlement. I think the rules here allow for a higher recovery than the FL rules do.
It could very well be that I misread the agreement where it said presuit or before complaint was filed, and thought it meant settlement.
A fee structure which encourages the lawyer to litigate a case to conclusion is also unlikely because it contravenes fairly widespread public policy (one of the few policies that both legislatures and the bar agree on) that Settlement Is Good. I suspect what you may have seen is either the structure for fees that the lawyer might be able to collect from the opposing party (e.g., in a bad faith or sanctions context), which are included for the client’s information only.
IANAL, but based on my experience as a PI and an expert witness, I can tell you what often happens.
Let’s say we have a slip & fall case. The plaintiff asks for $3M. The plaintiff’s attorney thinks they have a good case because the plaintiff is in a wheelchair.
Along the way, a PI gets video of the plaintiff bowling in a league (out of the wheelchair) and square-dancing several times a week. The video is shown to the plaintiff and his attorney in a private meeting.
As the PI who got the video for the defense, I expect the plaintiff to drop the lawsuit and slink back home. Nope. The plaintiff’s attorney takes the plaintiff into a conference room and says, “Look…you screwed up. Settle for $50K and be glad you’re not going to jail or being countersued. $50K just about covers our expenses so far.”
When I hired a lawyer for my divorce, she wanted $5,000 up front before she began working. Why wouldn’t Holmes’ lawyers do the same?
Maybe they did have a retainer, but when the clients check out as relatively dependable, the retainer is not going to cover the entire cost of the representation in advance, especially for extensive litigation.
(Just as a matter of interest, when you pay a lawyer in advance, many (if not all) state bar associations require the sum to be held in a separate account and the lawyer can draw from it as E earns it according to es regular fee schedule.)