Contingency Fee Cases for Business Related Litigation

Selecting Contingency Cases

As we evaluate potential cases that folks bring our way, we want to be sure that each contingency fee case fits certain criteria to facilitate the all-around best outcome. 

First, cases must be business-related. This way they relate to and effectively leverage our expertise and experience in business law. This means that we will not be accepting personal injury cases, malpractice cases, or any other types on a contingency fee basis. Business law is what we're sticking with here.

Secondly, we will need to do an in-depth evaluation of the case and the likelihood of success before ever getting involved. We are realistic here at Calkins Law Firm, so we only want to represent plaintiffs when we believe that the case is promising. A strong probability of success doesn't rule out surprises, but it does give us a more confident foundation to work from. Simply put, the case needs to be supported by the facts and the law. That's true with any litigation, but it's especially important in contingency fee cases.

Finally, before we agree to representation and get involved in a business-related litigation matter, we want to be sure that should our client prevail, the opposing party can be expected to pay the decided judgment. Again, this is an assessment we make with every plaintiff's case. After all, what client would want us to fight for a judgment that can't be enforced? A scenario like that could invalidate any time and effort put into the case. As is always true, nothing is guaranteed and surprises are expected. But if we realize prior to taking on a case that there isn't much chance that the court's ruling is enforceable and that a judgment may not be collectable, well then that isn't a contingency fee case we'd take on.

There's one more factor we feel we should mention: unless we believe, from the outset, that we can obtain a judgment that would fairly compensate us for our time and risk, we will have to decline involvement on a contingency fee basis. Now, to be fair to our potential client, we would do the work to determine this before agreeing to take on their case. Then, once we're reasonably confident that (1) we can prevail, that (2) the judgment can be collected and enforced, and that (3) our portion of the award will compensate us, we'll be happy to handle a business-related case on a contingency fee basis.