The lawyers usually contrived to get their money by exacting retainers in advance, and the practice of Champerty was common, whereby the lawyer did his work in consideration of a percentage on the sum which was at last forcibly collected.
"The Critical Period of American History"
John Fiske
The Supreme Court of the State had decided that the order of a Superior Court allowing alimony during the pendency of any action for divorce is not appealable, but it had not decided that, under the pretence of granting alimony, an inferior judge could apportion a rich man's estate among Champerty lawyers, and their adventurous client, by an order from which there could be no appeal, made prior to any decree that there had ever been a marriage between the parties, when the fact of the marriage was the main issue in the case.
"Personal Reminiscences of Early Days in California with Other Sketches; To Which Is Added the Story of His Attempted Assassination by a Former Associate on the Supreme Bench of the State"
Stephen Field; George C. Gorham