Clearly Lara can't afford to pay for the case. I think estimates may be low on the amount of money the lawyers want on the table to start.

For contingency they'll look at who they might prevail against and estimate how much money might be there. I have no idea about TT and Evasive. As a wild guess I don't think they'd take it on a contingency basis unless the amount of money they might win, and recover, exceeds US$1M (assuming they get 33%). There are less risky and less difficult cases to pursue.

Most realistic is that she'll find a lawyer who will invest a few hours to write threatening letters and demand a settlement, without being willing or able to actually go to trial. TT should probably pay them off to put the risk of a real lawsuit behind him.

Don't overlook the other costs. I'm involved in a land condemnation right now where non-lawyer costs appear to be 20%-25% of the total I've spent.