That's what deposits are for. We generally get a pretty sizable chunk of our fee up front (25-50%) and before we first hit design reviews. If crap goes sour d

That's what deposits are for. We generally get a pretty sizable chunk of our fee up front (25-50%) and before we first hit design reviews. If crap goes sour during design review we're already holding their money. Now we can still have done more work then they've paid for but at least some of that risk is mitigated while we settle the rest in the courts. I should note that we're kind of young, but this has never yet happened to us.