Theodore Hollister and Others v. August

1. Under the common-law rule in England contracts for contingent fees between an attorney and his client were condemned as champertous. The general rule in this country, however, is that the great weight of authority recognizes the validity of such contracts for contingent fees, provided they are not in contravention of public policy, and it is only when the attorney has taken advantage of the claimant by reason of his poverty, or the surrounding circumstances, to exact an unreasonable and unconscionable proportion of such claim that it is condemned.