He walked into the office and the woman behind the desk motioned him to sit. “Have a seat. I recognize your name. I believe you are in an office across the hall. For the record I don’t do contracts. What can I do for you?”

“One of my clients was badly hurt two days ago on a movie set. She is in the hospital and has asked me to represent her in dealing with the studio in this matter. Let me be blunt. I am experienced in working with the studio contract lawyers and if I must say I am pretty good at getting my clients the best terms. But I have not handled a tort case since my internship and quite frankly, if I represented her in this matter I would probably do a bad enough job that I could forgo my fee and they would still come out behind what they they would if they paid a lawyer with experience in these matters.”

She smiled. He was thinking. “You are probably going to take this on a contingent fee basis and take a third of a very big settlement. It’s like playing the lottery.” She thought to herself. “You are smarter than most contract lawyers.  I’m surprised that you didn’t try this on your own. Most contract lawyers think tort is simple and beneath them till they take on a case and do badly.” She said, “If this is an actress taking an action against the studio she was a working for I would like to have her contract lawyer on the team that works with them so we both get the best for the injured party and try to avoid damaging the working relationship if at all possible. We would probably want you to sit with us in most of the negotiations and advise. Your time would be valuable and of course be compensated. We usually do that by offering an hourly rate or two percent of the award, whichever is higher. Of course if there is no award, and you take that option there is no pay.”

“I’m sure we can work out something if that would be the best for my client. I really think she has a solid case. I think the percentage is best since it puts both of us in a position of benefiting if she gets a good settlement.”