Professional Compensation/Fees

Is the legal profession’s vision for the law firm of the future already outdated? Can the law firm of today cope with the incredibly dynamic and changing competitive legal services environment, or will it go the way of the dinosaur? Greater and new competition in the forms of artificial intelligence, disruptive technology, the Big Four accounting firms, enlarged in-house legal staffs, and alternative legal service providers are eating law firms’ lunch. Clients are demanding service, efficiency and transparency in a way that puts tremendous pressure on the traditional law firm model.

Join us for a round of the “ABI Talks,” with speakers focusing on the ABI Consumer Commission, litigation finance in bankruptcy, transfers and more.

As the retention of contingency counsel proliferates, stakeholders and their professionals need guidance and creativity in considering the financial arrangements that are negotiated. This panel will focus on ethics and professionalism issues that arise in these retentions, retaining counsel under § 328, how to negotiate and/or determine what compensation is appropriate (20 percent vs. 40 percent), compensation based on case status (e.g., settlement after initial motion practice vs. SJ), hybrid compensation, financing litigation (estate vs. contingency counsel vs.

This panel will help sort through the following questions: What is needed to prove your facts? How do you find experts on the cheap? Is a deposition necessary? How many witnesses do I really need? How do I minimize the cost of discovery in a small case without jeopardizing my clients’ interests?

The panel will discuss myriad issues (including ethical issues) that have arisen, and will likely arise in the future, as the current trend of third party litigation funding begins to be a more common funding vehicle in bankruptcy cases.