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
25.
The phrase
a
receiving a payment ████ ██ ██ ███████ ████████ █████ ████ ███ █████ ████████ ████████ ██ ███ ██████
In an uplift fee agreement, the lawyer receives her usual fee plus a set extra percentage of that fee. So if she wins, she does receive more money than the actual monetary value of her work, since she receives more than her usual fee. So the uplift fee can’t be intended to prevent lawyers from receiving more than the value of their services.
b
receiving a higher ███████ ██ ███ █████ ██████ ███████ ██ ███████ ████ ██ ██████████ ████████████ ███ ███ ████████████ ████████ ████████ ███ ███ ██████ ██ ████ ███████
The uplift fee is meant to ensure that the client keeps a fair amount of the damages and the lawyer doesn’t “gain disproportionately from awards of damages”— that is, get more than what’s reasonable for her work and benefit disproportionately over the client. If the lawyer were to get a large percentage of a large damages award, she could end up with an unreasonably high compensation and she could benefit disproportionately over her client, who might receive very little.
c
receiving a higher ██████████ ██ ███ ███████ ███████ ██ ███ ██████ ████ ███ ██████ █████████ ████
The referenced text suggests that an uplift fee agreement is intended to keep lawyers from receiving a higher proportion of the damages than is fair. But the lawyer’s compensation isn’t based on what the client considers fair.
d
receiving a payment ████ ██ ██████ ████ ███ ██████ █████ ████ ████████ ███ ███ ████████ ████ ████ ████████████
The uplift fee agreement isn’t meant to keep the lawyer from getting more money than she would have gotten if the case had been unsuccessful. If the case is unsuccessful, the lawyer doesn’t receive any money. So she’ll definitely receive a higher payment if the case is successful.
e
receiving a higher ██████████ ██ ███ ███████ ███████ ██ ███ ██████ ████ ███ █████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ███████ ███ ███████ ████████ ███ ██████ ██ ███████
The referenced text suggests that an uplift fee agreement is intended to keep the lawyer from receiving a higher proportion of the damages than is fair for her work. But it doesn’t mention the judge’s or the jury’s intentions for the lawyer’s compensation.