Article Abstract:
Contingency fees are often attacked when a case settles early and the attorney receives an excessive per hour fee but contingency fees indicate risk-taking not result because many cases result in lower than customary fees. Critics ask for a hind-sight reasonableness test only when the attorney's share is unreasonably high while times when the share is unreasonably low are ignored. The contract reflects an intention to measure the attorney's value in recovery rather than hours and successes are used by attorneys to balance losses in other contingency cases.
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Article Abstract:
Contingency fee clients rarely receive full disclosure as to the attorney's hourly rate if the case does settle early and they base their decision to use a contingency fee on the attorney's assessment of the case. Therefore, the attorney is in an ethically questionable situation if the case does settle rather than continue as expressed in the initial assessment. Contingency fee contracts would be more ethically sound if provisions were made for an unexpected early settlement especially when the whole settlement is usually needed by the clients.
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Article Abstract:
The legal profession should end its opposition to lay competition, as such change is inevitable and, in the limited places it exists, it increases the quality and lowers the cost of legal services. Nonlawyer competition has soared in the past two decades, despite continuous opposition from lawyers. The public seems eager for more legal services, especially poor and middle class individuals and families. Where there is valid concern about the quality and ethicality of service, licensing seems perfectly practical.
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