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Financially-constrained lawyers: An economic theory of legal disputes

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  • Landeo, Claudia M.
  • Nikitin, Maxim

Abstract

Financial constraints reduce the lawyer's ability to file lawsuits and bring cases to trial. As a result, access to justice for victims, pretrial bargaining, and potential injurers' precaution might be affected. We study civil litigation using a model that allows for asymmetric information, financially-constrained lawyers, third-party lawyer lending, and a continuum of plaintiff's types. We contribute to the economic analysis of law by generalizing seminal models of litigation (Bebchuk, 1984, 1988; Katz, 1990), offering the first formal definition of access to justice, and presenting comprehensive social welfare analysis of relevant public policy. We provide complete equilibrium characterization and identify necessary conditions for the existence of the mixed- and pure-strategy PBE. Access to justice is denied to some victims under the mixed-strategy equilibrium. We then study the social welfare effects of policies aimed at relaxing lawyers' financial constraints, and identify a necessary and sufficient condition for a welfare-enhancing effect.

Suggested Citation

  • Landeo, Claudia M. & Nikitin, Maxim, 2018. "Financially-constrained lawyers: An economic theory of legal disputes," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 625-647.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:gamebe:v:109:y:2018:i:c:p:625-647
    DOI: 10.1016/j.geb.2018.03.002
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    1. Antill, Samuel & Grenadier, Steven R., 2023. "Financing the litigation arms race," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 149(2), pages 218-234.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Civil litigation; Access to Justice; Social welfare; Financially-constrained lawyers; Asymmetric information; Perfect Bayesian equilibrium; Deterrence; Lawsuits; Settlement; Litigation; Third-party lawyer lending industry; Third-party litigation funding;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • K41 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Litigation Process
    • C70 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - General
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design

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