{"id":4959,"date":"2004-08-16T23:36:36","date_gmt":"2004-08-17T03:36:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/formerlyknownas\/inform-to-reform\/"},"modified":"2004-08-16T23:36:36","modified_gmt":"2004-08-17T03:36:36","slug":"inform-to-reform","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/inform-to-reform\/","title":{"rendered":"inform to reform"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a name='a1979'><\/a><\/p>\n<p><P>&nbsp;<\/P><br \/>\n<H3><A href=\"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2004\/08\/16#a1975\"><FONT color=\"#42aac8\">to reform, inform<\/FONT><\/A><\/H3><br \/>\n<DIV><br \/>\n<BLOCKQUOTE><br \/>\n<P dir=\"ltr\" align=\"right\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\"><FONT size=\"2\"><EM>contingency fee reform is<\/EM> <IMG height=\"48\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/cyber.law.harvard.edu\/blogs\/static\/ethicalesq\/pastduered.gif\" width=\"30\" border=\"0\"><\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P><br \/>\n<P dir=\"ltr\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"2\">We interrupt our poetry for a pet project: <EM><STRONG>contingency fee reform<\/STRONG><\/EM>.&nbsp; Tomorrow, <\/FONT><A href=\"http:\/\/www.pointoflaw.com\/feature\/\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" color=\"#42aac8\" size=\"2\"><STRONG>Point of Law<\/STRONG><\/FONT><\/A><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"2\"> is beginning a&nbsp;Featured Discussion&nbsp;on this topic,&nbsp;where &#8220;Two of the nation&#8217;s leading experts on legal ethics, <\/FONT><A href=\"http:\/\/www.pointoflaw.com\/masthead\/index.php#brickman\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" color=\"#2294bc\" size=\"2\"><STRONG>Lester Brickman <\/STRONG><\/FONT><\/A><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"2\">and <\/FONT><A href=\"http:\/\/www.pointoflaw.com\/masthead\/index.php#painter\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" color=\"#2294bc\" size=\"2\"><STRONG>Richard Painter<\/STRONG><\/FONT><\/A><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"2\">, will discuss potential ways to improve the legal system through reforming the way lawyers charge contingency fees.&#8221;<\/FONT><\/P><br \/>\n<UL><br \/>\n<LI><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"2\">Despite it&#8217;s current haiku format, you&#8217;ll find much on the&nbsp;standard contingency fee&nbsp;at this website, as it has been an obsession of the Editor for years.&nbsp;&nbsp;In the posting <\/FONT><A href=\"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2004\/01\/07#a482\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" color=\"#42aac8\" size=\"2\"><STRONG>Suggestions for the ABA Contingency Fee Task Force<\/STRONG><\/FONT><\/A><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"2\">&nbsp; (Jan. 7, 2004),&nbsp;there is&nbsp;a good summary of <EM>ethicalEsq<\/EM>&#8216;s&nbsp; position and arguments, with many links. <\/FONT><\/DIV><\/LI><\/UL><br \/>\n<P dir=\"ltr\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"2\">I&#8217;m no ethics professor or bigwig&nbsp;(I only play one on the net), but I think I know the very best and quickest way to achieve contingency fee reform: <FONT color=\"#ff0000\"><STRONG><EM>inform the public<\/EM><\/STRONG><\/FONT> &#8212; let consumers\/clients know (1) they can and <EM>should negotiate<\/EM> for a fair contingency fee; (2) the fairness of the fee depends on the <EM>risk<\/EM> the lawyer is taking of working without being paid; (3) the lawyer owes the client a <EM>good faith estimate<\/EM> of the likelihood of success and the amount of work the law firm&nbsp;is likely to do <EM>before<\/EM> a fee is set.<\/FONT><\/P><br \/>\n<P dir=\"ltr\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"2\"><IMG height=\"42\" alt=\"too much$: \" src=\"http:\/\/cyber.law.harvard.edu\/blogs\/static\/ethicalesq\/toomuch.gif\" width=\"60\" border=\"0\">&nbsp; I have far more faith in the power of informed consumers (and the forces of competition that it can unleash), than I have in the legal profession&#8217;s ability or willingness to reform contingency fee rules significantly or effectively &#8212; especially since it must be done state by state, in the face of powerful interests on both sides of the tort bar.&nbsp; However, once even a relatively small share of consumers know their rights, at least a few p\/i&nbsp; lawyers will start open fee competition for clients through <\/FONT><A href=\"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2004\/07\/16#a1821\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" color=\"#2294bc\" size=\"2\"><STRONG>tv and yellow page ads<\/STRONG><\/FONT><\/A><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"2\">, and the standard contingency fee racket will be <EM>doomed<\/EM>.&nbsp; <\/FONT><\/P><br \/>\n<UL><br \/>\n<LI><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"2\">If professors, pundits, political opportunists and consumer protectors had trusted the market and consumers, and started a meaningful informational campaign a decade ago, the <\/FONT><A href=\"http:\/\/www.pointoflaw.com\/feature\/\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" color=\"#42aac8\" size=\"2\"><STRONG>Point of Law discussion<\/STRONG><\/FONT><\/A><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"2\"> would be merely academic by now.&nbsp; The solution isn&#8217;t complicated rules and&nbsp;voluminous journal articles, it is easy-to-understand information.&nbsp; <\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<LI><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"2\">So, let&#8217;s use the web and all media platforms to have op\/ed and news articles published; let&#8217;s get public service announcements and brochures made and placed; and let&#8217;s press state bars or courts to create (and maybe impose) statements of client&#8217;s rights.&nbsp; The message to every&nbsp;potential p\/i plaintiff is simple: &#8220;<STRONG>Don&#8217;t be a sucker by just handing over one-third; demand information and negotiate from strength!<\/STRONG>&#8220;<\/FONT>&nbsp;<\/DIV><\/LI><\/UL><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/DIV><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; to reform, inform contingency fee reform is We interrupt our poetry for a pet project: contingency fee reform.&nbsp; Tomorrow, Point of Law is beginning a&nbsp;Featured Discussion&nbsp;on this topic,&nbsp;where &#8220;Two of the nation&#8217;s leading experts on legal ethics, Lester Brickman and Richard Painter, will discuss potential ways to improve the legal system through reforming the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4959","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P6kP1R-1hZ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4959\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}