Every attorney I ever used demanded payment up front. I’m sure all of us have 2 or 3 million dollars laying around to use until we’re reimbursed.
We're not talking about a simple will or traffic citation here. We're talking about an ongoing defense from ethics violations. You've clearly never put a law firm on retainer, which is what I'm sure was done here. A fee is charged up front, then billing is submitted to the client every month.