Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP v. Sutherland

STRINE, Chief Justice:

This appeal concerns a dispute over when a charging lien may be imposed on a judgment to recover unpaid attorney’s fees. In this opinion, we embrace the definition that a charging lien is “an equitable right to have costs advanced and attorney’s fees secured by the judgment entered in the suit wherein the costs were advanced and the fee earned,” 1 which had been previously adopted by the Court of Chancery in its earlier decision in Zutmu v. Jansing. 2 In the matter before us, the Vice Chancellor supplemented the prerequisites for a charging lien to confíne an attorney to…