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Contingent Fees, Signaling and Settlement Authority

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  • Leshem Shmuel

    (USC Law School)

Abstract

Conventional wisdom suggests that under contingent fee contracts, attorneys have an excessive incentive to settle the case; therefore, a plaintiff should retain the authority over settlement decisions. We show, by contrast, that when the plaintiff possesses private information about the outcome of a trial and makes a take-it-or-leave-it settlement demand, delegating settlement authority to an attorney under a contingent fee contract increases the probability of settlement and the plaintiff's equilibrium payoff. We also show that contingent fee contracts with attorney control over settlement are more efficient than hourly fee contracts, as the former involve a higher probability of settlement. The intuition behind these results is that the attorney's greater reluctance to go to trial allows him to more effectively signal the plaintiff's type through the settlement demand.

Suggested Citation

  • Leshem Shmuel, 2009. "Contingent Fees, Signaling and Settlement Authority," Review of Law & Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 5(1), pages 435-460, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:rlecon:v:5:y:2009:i:1:n:18
    DOI: 10.2202/1555-5879.1274
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Miceli, Thomas J & Segerson, Kathleen, 1991. "Contingent Fees for Lawyers: The Impact on Litigation and Accident Prevention," The Journal of Legal Studies, University of Chicago Press, vol. 20(2), pages 381-399, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. SIDDHARTHA BANDYOPADHYAY & BRYAN C. McCANNON, 2015. "Prosecutorial Retention: Signaling by Trial," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 17(2), pages 219-256, April.
    2. Farmer Amy & Pecorino Paul, 2016. "Litigation with a Variable Cost of Trial," Review of Law & Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 12(2), pages 203-226, July.
    3. Andrew F. Daughety & Reinganum F. Reinganum, 2014. "Settlement and Trial: Selected Analyses of the Bargaining Environment," Vanderbilt University Department of Economics Working Papers 14-00005, Vanderbilt University Department of Economics.
    4. Nobert Osemeke & Louis Osemeke, 2017. "The role of auditors in the context of Nigerian environment," International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 14(4), pages 299-317, November.
    5. Andrew F. Daughety & Jennifer F. Reinganum, 2014. "The Effect of Third-Party Funding of Plaintiffs on Settlement," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(8), pages 2552-2566, August.
    6. Nakao Keisuke & Tsumagari Masatoshi, 2012. "The Inquisitor Judge's Trilemma," Review of Law & Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 8(1), pages 137-159, May.

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