CLR Auto Transport Corp. reportedly promised that if the law firm of Thomas Planera & Associates helped it score a big contract with Volkswagen Group of America, it would pay a 20 percent contingency fee. But when VWGA started paying CLR nearly $1 million a month, CLR claimed the contingency fee agreement was invalid based on Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct 1.8(a) (which prohibits an attorney from acquiring “an ownership, possessory security or other pecuniary interest adverse to a client” unless the …