It is the case that contingency fees, whereby a lawyer or firm can contract for a retainer that will pay it a percentage of a recovery, were only recently permitted by legislation in Ontario, the last province to do so. But contingency fees in personal injury cases in Ontario go back many decades, likely coincident with the coming of the motor car to Ontario roads, and perhaps even earlier. The contingency involved was that if there was no recovery of damages, the lawyer did not get paid and was out of pocket for the disbursements necessary to take the case to trial.