Self-study
P1
In October 1999, the Law Reform Commission of Western Australia (LRCWA) issued its report, "Review of the Civil and Criminal Justice System." Buried within its 400 pages are several important recommendations for introducing contingency fees for lawyers' services into the state of Western Australia. ███████████████ ██████████ ████ ███ ███████ ████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ██████████ ██ ███ █████ ███████ ██ ███ ████████ ████ ██ █████████ █████ ████ ███████ █████████ ██████ ███████ █████
Context ·
LRCWA introduced contingency-fee agreements
These are agreements where a lawyer is paid only if the case is successful. Because of the higher risk involved, contingency fees tend to be higher than regular fees.
P2
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LRCWA recommends uplift Fee ·
A type of contingency fee
"Uplift" in the sense that a lawyer's regular fee will be paid plus a fixed additional percentage.
LRCWA Rationale ·
Prevent lawyers from disproportionate gain
And hence safeguards just compensation to plaintiffs.
LRCWA Recommendation Details ·
Two requirements for uplift fees
1. This contingency-fee arrangement must be used only a last resort; 2. The lawyer must know that the client is unable to pay normal fee.
P3
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Critique ·
Too onerous for lawyers
Requires lawyers to investigate client's financial circumstances and estimate probable cost of litigation.
P4
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Critique ·
Unfair; limits freedom of contract
Why should contingency-fee agreements be available to only the least well-off clients?
Critique ·
Main reasons for contingency-fee agreements apply to everyone
1. to provide a way to finance litigation; 2. to shift risk of loss to lawyers.
Critique ·
Contingency-fee agreements better align interests
It gives lawyers skin in the game and so should increase their diligence and commitment.
Passage Style
Critique or debate
27.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ █████████ ██████████ ███ ████████ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ███████████████ ██████████ ███████████████ ███████████
a
The proportion of ████████ █████ ██ ███ █████ ████████ █████████ █████ ██ ██ ██████ ██ █████ █████ ██████ ███ ████████████ ████ ████ ██████ ████ ████ ██ █████ ██ █████ ██████ ██████████ ████ ███ ████ █████
The author criticizes the LRCWA’s recommended requirements for contingency-fee agreements, arguing that the recommendations unfairly favor the least well-off clients. The fact that low-income clients file more lawsuits in areas with uplift fee arrangements does not undermine this criticism.
b
Before the LRCWA's ████████████████ ███████ ██ ███████ █████████ █████████ ████ █ ███████ ██████████ ██ ███████████ ████████ █████████ █████████████ ██████ █████████ █████ ████ █████ ███████ ███████ ██ ██████████ ███████████
This undermines the author’s criticism in P3. He says that the LRCWA’s recommendations are too burdensome for lawyers because they require lawyers to investigate prospective clients’ financial circumstances. But if lawyers were already doing this before the recommendations, then the author’s criticism doesn’t hold up.
c
There is strong ██████████ ██ ███████ █████████ ██ ███ █████ ██████ █████████ ██ ████████ ████████ ██ ██ ██ ██████ ████████ ████ ███ ███████ ███████████████ ██████████ ███████████████ ██████████ ████ ██ ████████████
This doesn’t undermine the author’s criticisms. The author criticizes the LRCWA’s recommended requirements for contingency-fee agreements, but he doesn’t say anything about whether their recommendations are likely to be implemented.
d
The total fees ███████ ██ ███████ ███ ████████████ ████████ █████ █████ ██████ ███ ████████████ ████ ██ ████████ ████ ██████████ ██████ ████ ███ █████ ████ ███████ ██ ███████ ███ ████████ █████ ███████ ███████████ ███████████
The author doesn’t say anything about whether lawyers’ fees will be higher or lower under uplift fee arrangements, so this can’t undermine his criticism. Instead, he argues that the LRCWA’s recommendations would be too burdensome for lawyers, would limit freedom of contract, and would make certain kinds of litigation inaccessible to middle-income people.
e
In most jurisdictions ██ █████ ███████████████ ██████████ ███ ████████ █████ ██ ███ ██████ ███████ ███ ████ ████ ████ █████ ████ ███ █████ █████ ██ ███████████████ ███████████
The author doesn’t mention how often different types of contingency-fee agreements are used, so this can’t undermine his criticism. Instead, he argues that the LRCWA’s recommendations would be too burdensome for lawyers, would limit freedom of contract, and would make certain kinds of litigation inaccessible to middle-income people.