Articles on Contingency Representation and Legal fees
Morehead, Damage Based Contingency Fees in
Employment Cases: A Survey of Practitioners
American-style' contingency fees are often thought not to exist in the legal
system of England and Wales, but in fact have existed for many years in
employment tribunals (and other areas defined as 'non-contentious' business).
Similarity with the American system is two-fold. Firstly, in employment
tribunals there is generally no 'loser-pays' costs rule: each party normally
bears their own costs. Secondly, in employment tribunals contingency fees can be
'damages-based': the adviser's fee can be calculated as a percentage of damages.
The development of damage-based contingency fees (DBCFs) has been vigorously
resisted in civil litigation for fear that American-style fees would open a
floodgate of dubious litigation which corrupted the quality and ethics of our
legal system. Intriguingly, whilst tacitly permitted, the introduction of DBCFs
outside of court-based litigation has escaped regulatory attention. As such,
employment tribunals present an interesting example of the apparent
Americanisation of a significant element of our justice system. It is also an
area that is significantly under-researched. We know very little about how DBCFs
operate in England and Wales.
This Study aims to go some way in rectifying that absence of knowledge. It
provides in-depth data on the use of 'American-style' DBCFs amongst employment
practitioners based on a telephone survey of 191 employment specialists working
in solicitors firms and claims consultancies. It also reviews existing
literature and conducts original analysis of the Survey of Tribunal Applications
(SETA) data 2003.
It examines levels of access to justice in employment tribunals and the impact
of DBCFs on that including the vexed area of equal pay and the issue of weak or
spurious cases. It also considers whether DBCF charging exploits consumers and
associated consumer potection issues particularly around settlement and
'handcuff' clauses which de facto require clients to accept their lawyer's
advice.
Garoupa Expand & Cashing by the Hour: Why Large Law Firms Prefer Hourly Fees over Contingent Fees,
Large law firms prefer hourly fees over
contingent fees. This article provides a moral hazard explanation for this
pattern of behavior. Contingent legal fees tend to align the interests of the
attorney with those of the client but not necessarily with those of the
partnership. We show that the choice of hourly fees is a solution to a common
agency problem.
New Trends in Financing Civil Litigation in Europe: A Legal, Empirical, and Economic Analysis (Google eBook)
Symposium: Lawyers, Law Firms and the Legal
Profession: the Business of Law: Panel 1: Lawyers in a Fee Quandary: Must
the Billable Hour Die? *
Lawyers, Law Firms & the Legal Profession: An Ethical View of the Business of
Law, held on May 1, 2008, Summer, 2008, 6 DePaul Bus. & Comm. L.J. 487
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www.allbusiness.com/legal/law-firms-attorneys/2243 (description of contingency agreement)
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