Initially my understanding was that the lawyer will work for the percentage of the the recovered funds. I was assuming that this would give him enough of motivation to fight for our money. Now it seems that it's not the case. I really did not go deeper into the conditions but now I am not so sure that he has enough confidence that he can win this case. Therefore asking for upfront payment.

I myself have more than 30 btc in this venue so it will be heart breaking to go for USD refund but at this time I would say better something than nothing.