Most of them don't, really. At least where I'm from. Most defense attorneys take cases on a flat rate, $2,000-$5,000 for a typical DUI or similar charge. That's a lot, but they put a lot of hours and expenses into it. PI attorney's work on contingency, and yeah, it can yield a lot. But for every $500,000 case that settles before suit even needs to be filed, there's 10 cases with a minimum liability insurer that makes you take the case to trial, costing a year of work and thousands in costs out-of-pocket. So you're subsiding people who get hurt with shitty insurance (so buy UM/UIM people). Insurance defense attorneys frequently get shafted by the insurer that hires them, and can only charge for a fraction of the hours they actually work, and already have to discount their rate. And civil litigators? Well, they just represent old men with too much money and too little sex that want to duke it out with a rival for some petty reason. They'd hire gladiators if they could, but lawyers are the closest thing they're allowed. And the more you pay for a lawyer, the better he is, just like cars.

And don't forget that if your attorney wants to talk to your doctor to see if he's willing to testify that your broken leg was caused by the car accident where your leg broke the center counsel, he'll charge the attorney (really you) $1000 an hour, with a minimum of 15 minutes. And then he'll equivocate and leave you needing to hire an expert, who'll charge $2000 an hour and bill for 30 hours or so if the case goes to trial. Then there's the time and costs that goes into getting medical records. Way more than it ought to be. Then finally, when it's all said and done, your attorney will spend months dealing with liens and other claims by the same doctors that ripped you off for shitty testimony and made you need to spend $23,000 on an expert.