A personal injury case can be regarded as the Plaintiff’s or injured person’s day-in-court to put their story on the record or it could be viewed in a more noble sense as a fight for justice, but it is really all about the money.
It is the goal of the Plaintiff’s lawyer, somewhere during the legal process, to obtain an amount of money (the larger the better) on behalf of their client, the Plaintiff, from the Defendant (in a substantial amount of case, it’s an insurance company). That total amount of money does not, however, go to the Plaintiff. It is divided between the Plaintiff and their lawyer, with the lawyer being allocated their payment first and the Plaintiff receiving the remainder. (There are usually some other considerations, but for these purposes only these two recipients will be discussed.)
So, in order to calculate the final amount that the Plaintiff (your Applicant) receives, the lawyer’s share must first be determined.