Contingency based collection means that payment for our work is contingent upon our success. If we are unsuccessful in our attempts to collect, it costs you nothing.
I supervised the legal work of Todd Christensen for The Bank of Nova Scotia’s Regional Collection Centre in Ottawa, Ontario back in 1994-1995. . . . The collection agencies we usually used for the files assigned him regularly settled the claims for a discount and often generated complaints from our customers whose business we hoped to win back when times were better for them. On files agencies would have compromised, Todd recovered not only 100 percent of the amount owing, but also collection costs. And we had not one complaint from our customers about how he treated them.
Collection agencies are specifically prohibited by the Collection Agencies Act in Ontario from adding any collection costs to a debt they are collecting. Lawyers are excluded from this legislation therefore, it is within a law firm's right to recover full costs for it's clients.