The other day, I was chatting with a few talented lawyers who had recently opened up a new office in town. As we discussed how the past several years had brought about profound changes within our profession, I ventured a statement with which they did not disagree. I said that if I had a dispute for, say, $100,000 — which for me would be an enormous sum of money — I was not sure I’d be able to find a good lawyer to handle it. By that, I mean that the very capable lawyers whom I would consider would charge such high billing rates that I could not expect to resolve the matter in a reasonable manner.
That problem doesn’t even take into account the other party spending similarly. The ethical members of the bar might decline to represent me. They would know that they could not make the arrangement work out economically for both attorney and client.
