You have to know the difference between a Contingency Fee structure, where fees are fully contingent upon winning/recovery, and a Success Fee structure, where a basic fee is combined with a % / additional fee upon success.
The latter has been established as legal by multiple binding precedents, e.g. Chai Chee Chin & Others v. Tetuan Zahari Ong & Co [2005] MLJU 623.
I personally find Success Fees the best fee structure because it aligns the incentives of the client and the lawyer to push for the best outcome in the shortest time and at the lowest cost.
It also incentivises the lawyer to be frank and upfront with you if a case is simply non-viable. If the lawyer's upside depends on actually getting a result, there is very little incentive to push you into pointless litigation just to keep billing fixed legal fees.
Sometimes the correct advice is simply: this case is shit, don't waste your money.
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