I see lawyers work on contingency every single day, for people who don't have a pot to piss in. It's also not generally out of the goodness of their heart, so I don't want to make it seem like they're philanthropists out here. If you have a case, odds are a lawyer will take it.

As far as defending a case, it's interesting. I watch insurance companies spend 10 times what a case is worth to settle for the sake of defending it. Lawyers go after insurance companies all the time because the insurance companies have deep pockets, and sometimes you get an easy settlement. This is definitely not some kind of defense of insurance companies either, they're the worst, but people will do their best to scam them wherever they can.