Re: unconscionable fees?

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Its the Lawyers Ethical duty to give a realistic analysis of the case and
its value. If an attorney were to routinely be intentionally misleading
clients as to the value of the case then yes it would be unethical.

The practical problem is knowing if the attorney is intentionally
misleading or not.

The true value of a case cannot really be obtained without a total
analysis of the factors involved. Most clients seldom give you a complete
& accurate synopsis, so its quite possible that the lawyers investigation
and analysis of value exceeds the value of the case.

Think of it like this: a tax preparer gets paid to prepare a tax return,
whether the tax return results in money owed to the IRS, or a tax refund.
Either way, the time, knowledge and effort required to complete the tax
return properly is the same. The client doesn't get to say... "whoa, Mr.
Tax Preparer, I'm not getting a refund, your fee is unconscionable". The
same is true of most pre-litigation & litigation. In a contingency
matter, the attorney takes risk that after the investigation is done the
value of the case will exceed a certain level. In a non-contingency case,
the client takes the risk.

An attorney who charges money to do the case analysis is providing a
value. Even if ultimately he tells the client... "your case is crap".
Thats a value provided. For some reason, the general public seems to
think that Attorneys should give that value away for free, though there
is no rational or ethical reason to do so. The fact that the Attorney
then mitigates the clients loss by obtaining a "nuisance settlement" from
the other side is something the client should be happy about, not a
something the Attorney's ethics should be questioned for.

On 9/26/06, secretary wrote:
> Even when it's part of your business model to regularly recover less
> than you charge? I'm not just talking about the odd client who wants to
> make a statement. I mean virtually one's entire caseload.
>
> I would quit if I didn't like who I was working for, or if I felt I was
> helping someone unethical.
>