Money, Quote of the Day, Richard Posner

Compensation For Lawyers: A Proposal From Posner

Is an overhaul of lawyer pay the solution to inequities in the justice system?

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Judge Richard Posner (Chensiyuan/Wikimedia Commons)

Judge Richard Posner (Chensiyuan/Wikimedia Commons)

Differences in the quality of lawyers wouldn’t matter a great deal if, for example, they were compensated as judges are: with a uniform government salary unrelated to outcomes or the relative wealth of the respective parties in a case. (The analogy is to a “single payer” system of medical care.) There would then be no contingent fees and no $1100 an hour billing rates. My pay isn’t docked if I’m reversed by the Supreme Court, and neither do I get a bonus if the Court affirms a decision of mine….

— Judge Richard Posner, discussing attorney compensation in his diagnosis of the ills of the federal judicial system. For more, see his very interesting Green Bag article or his well-received new book, Divergent Paths: The Academy and the Judiciary (affiliate link).

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