It depends on what you want to do. You can negotiate with the attorney on whatever the fee arrangement works for you. Normally contingency is the way in personal injury cases, especially when your case is a big one and there is potential large reward upon winning. Smaller cases or weak cases, an attorney would require hourly payment to make sure his or her effort would not be wasted. You need to negotiate with the attorney, including the percentage of contigency.
Whatever the case, an attorney cannot advance legal fees because so doing is a violation of ethical rules. The law does provide one exception for indigent people, upon promise of repayment of legal fees.
