辯護士 報酬에 관한 고찰

Issues of the Attorney's Fee

Attorney's fee is one of the most delicate issues in the area of the legal ethics. It is now recognized that attorney's fee is basically ruled by the invisible hands by the free market. However, no country let the attorney's fee run by only 'the invisible hands'. Some countries like Germany set the attorney's fee by the national legislation, but most countries let the bar association rule by themselves. However, when a controversy on the attorney's fee is arisen, the court should provide ultimate solution. There are basically three kinds of attorney' fee ; fixed charge, hourly charge and contingent fee schedule. There are also several variation too. Most controversial is the contingent fee schedule. Contingent fee has significant role as poor people can have access to attorney's service. Also, under the contingent fee schedule, lawyers have strong incentive to work hard. However, it has also negative aspects. Frivolous lawsuits are brought by the lawyers who are playing some kind of lottery in multiple suits. Therefore, some states of the United States limits the scope of the contingent fee schedule. Basic rule is that attorney's fee should be 'reasonable'. There are several court decisions which could provide some answer for the question of how much is enough reasonable. The article also deals with various other issues of attorney's fee.