Many members of the personal injury bar argue that you have to be
a tort-reformin’, insurer-lovin’, consumer-hatin,’ ethics whore — or
a dupe of the above — to assert that contigency fees should relate
to the risk being taken by the lawyer in a particular case. I don’t
know if the tort lawyers really believe their own propaganda, but
they do profess this belief, while reminding the world that they “earn”
their above-hourly-fee premimum precisely because they are taking
the huge risk of working hard, and fronting litigation expenses, without
being compensated at all, or enough.
The main components of the risk are, of course, how
likely the client is to succeed with the claim, how much
is likely to be awarded and collected, and how much work
and resources the law firm is likely to put into the case. The
risk is lower, and the fee should therefore be lower, when
the case is likely to be a winner with a big jackpot, and when
relatively fewer hours and dollars will be expended to win.
“slicingThePieF”
When legal ethics experts espouse the link between the reasonable-
ness of a contingency fee and the perceived risk at the time the fee
arrangement is being entered, they are called captives of evil forces or
simply insensitive simpletons who will destroy the American justice
system and deprive the injured Little Guy of competent legal counsel
(see, for example, this Jan. 2004 article from the Miami Herald, and this
press release by Public Citizen, for sample p/i rhetoric).
The p/i bar points to the ubiquitous use of what appears to be — but
they no longer acknowldge to be — a standard percentage rate in most
jurisdictions, and the lack of disciplinary action against such fees. That
is supposed to settle the debate.
Well, before I give up, I thought I would point out again just who — besides
people like Lester Brickman, Derek Bok, Howard Phillips, and myself, plus
lots of state and federal judges — is on record saying that risk is central
in evaluating the reasonableness of a contingency fee.
In case you have a short attention span or are in a hurry, I’ll start with my
Big Gun: The American Trial Lawyers Association. . . . .
. . . . please click to read the rest of this post,
which is part II of a four-part series, that includes:
Part I: contingency fees: market failure April 3, 2006
Part III: contingency fees: do “standard” fees still exist? April 5, 2006
Part IV: contingency fees: ethical duties April 7, 2006
April 3, 2006
contingency fees: risk matters
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more honorary haijin gumbahs
Talk about too much punditry and not enough poetry!
Sunday was a poetic loss for me.
Before I crawl toward my bed this night, I’m going to make
up for it with haiku and senryu from my semi-paisano in
Michigan, Ed Markowski, and my Rt. 9 Haiku gumbah-neighbors,
Hilary Tann and Tom Clausen. As I explained late Saturday night,
concerning the original honorary pair, not all of my “gumbahs” are
Italo-American.
hilary tann
some branches
remained bowed
this spring
March wind —
more garbage
in the trees
the path of a canoe in parted duckweed
river mist
shadows of the geese
I hear
snowmelt
my dog’s nose
to the ground
spring morning
we argue about crab apple
and cherry blossoms
within the red wine
a nap in my chair
spring wind –
the kid in the neighborhood
has a new whistle
steady rain
a pickle
in the parking lot
Discovery channel —
an older male vanquished
heads for the hills
in the middle
of some construction
a lilac blooms
just arrived —
their dog sniffs
our tires
every
* other
* pales
*in
*its
*wake
*falling
*
*
*
*
*
*star
“ThreeQuarterMoon”
afternoon nap
i fall asleep
in a dream
organic grocery
the question in her eyes
when i ask for Tang
spring fever?
i’ve had it
for 36 long years
ed markowski (2006)
potluck
been very busy the past few days, preparing both a [shudder] April
Fool’s Blawg Review Prequel (at his award-winning Fool in the Forest
weblog) and the actual Blawg Review #51 (at his “serious” Declarations
& Exclusions insurance law site). Apparently, lawyers can choose between
beer-bellies and six-packs, wineskins and lambskins in their pursuit of personal
and professional fulfillment. From the tenor of some of the links presented, dollar
signs seem to be getting in the way of either form of satisfaction.
update (11 AM): I just realized it is Armenian Appreciation Day
(according to this list, at least). Best wishes to my favorite Armen-
ian-American and bocce teammate, Leta Hunter of Scotia, New York.
You might want to mark your calendars for one
of more of the following “special” remembrance or
celebration days:
5- National Mule Day
7- National No Housework Day
9- National Chicken Little Awareness Day
12- Vote Lawyers Out of Office Day
13- Blame Somebody Else Day
14- Moment of Laughter Day
15- Type 3 Product Day [??]
17- National Blah Blah Blah Day
“multo bene”
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