Discussion paper

DP1487 Expertise, Contingent Fees, and Excessive Litigation

Plaintiffs have either strong or weak cases. Both cases should be taken to court, yet weak cases need more work by the attorney than strong cases. Only the attorney knows whether a case needs additional work or not; the plaintiff is forced to rely on the attorney?s recommendation. We show that under contingent fees there will generally be excessive litigation. In contrast, an hourly fee implements the efficient amount of litigation.

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Citation

Emons, W (1996), ‘DP1487 Expertise, Contingent Fees, and Excessive Litigation‘, CEPR Discussion Paper No. 1487. CEPR Press, Paris & London. https://cepr.org/publications/dp1487