A contingent fee is when an attorney charges dependent upon a successful outcome in the case. It is often agreed to be a percentage of the total recovery to the client. Such fee arrangements are often used in negligence cases and other civil actions but not for criminal defense or divorce actions.
Lerna is a village in Coles County, Illinois, United States. The population was 322 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Charleston–Mattoon Micropolitan Statistical Area. Thomas Lincoln, father of President Abraham Lincoln, spent the later part of his life on a homestead a few miles away, preserved today as the Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site. Thomas Lincoln and his second wife Sarah Bush Lincoln are buried in Shiloh Cemetery south of town.