Have you ever had a prospective client present a case with great facts that really yearns for justice and looks like a winner? The client can pay a small amount each month but can't pay by the hour. Should you take it?

The answer might well be "yes." More than 200 federal actions provide attorney fee-shifting for clients who prevail in court. Illinois adds scores more. These statutes also provide great bargaining leverage to recover fees in settlement. They enable you to take cases at reduced fees or no upfront fees at all.

Andy Norman's article in the February Illinois Bar Journal gives an overview of the fee-recovery process in these cases from beginning (the client engagement letter) to end (the hearing on fees). Read it and find out more. And check out the 2014 edition of ISBA's Guide to Illinois Statutes for Attorneys' Fees, which lists all provisions in the Illinois Compiled Statutes that authorize the court to order one party to pay the attorneys' fees of another.