Lawyers, Money, and the Ethics of Legal Fees Flashcards
When are attorney’s fees, although excessive, enforceble?
When the client receives the services bargained for and there is no deception on the part of the attorney.
(Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison v Telex Corp.
When is the test for unconscionability determined in deciding if the attorney’s fees excessive?
At the time the contract is made. (Brobeck, supra)
When will an attorney’s fee contract be held unconscionable?
When no man in his senses and not under a delusion would make on the one hand, and as no honest and fair man would accept on the other.
Does the federal anti-trust law that regulates price fixing apply to State Bar and County Bar Associations that impose minimum-fee schedules for their attorneys?
Yes. (Goldfarb v Virginia State Bar
Does the rules of ethics permit a lawyer to consider a minimum fee schedule when determining fees?
Yes.
Should a lawyer be controlled by a fee schedule?
No.
Must attorney’s fees, be assessed under a statute, authorizing the court, in its discretion, to award the prevailing party, attorney’s fees, where the case has been settled, by a consent decree, granting relief to the plaintiff class, but providing that the defendants, shall not pay, any part of the prevailing party’s fees or costs?
No/
Ina civil rights action is the court prohibited from accepting a settlement proposal which includes a waiver of attorney’s fees for the prevailing party?
No.
