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by im3w1l 15 days ago
Doesn't that mean that if you have a slam dunk case you can get a super expensive lawyer just to run up costs as much as possible? Hell, could you ask your friend to be your legal representative and have him charge you a gorillion dollar in legal fees? Then when you win you split the loot?
4 comments
tfourb 15 days ago
Civilized countries regulate the rates that lawyers can charge for standard work. Also lawyers get only reimbursed for reasonable costs by the loser. Still expensive, but not absurdly so.
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tiahura 15 days ago
No. The fees must be objectively reasonable and usual and customary for the effort and level of skill required. To get fees, you must submit an itemized billing statement that gets picked apart by the other side.
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FabCH 15 days ago
No because lawyer is a protected profession with regulated rates.

Unless your friend happens to actually be a legally licensed lawyer.

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samatman 15 days ago
It does, and it absolutely has a chilling effect in countries which don't do things this way.

Sue someone who can spend millions of pounds (for the sake of argument) on defence? Better be certain you can win... against someone who can spend millions of pounds, and probably went to the same public school as the judge.

In America, legal fees can be awarded as additional damages. We should do it more than we do. But given those two options? I'm on Team American Rule, 100%

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watwut 15 days ago
You are making stuff up. You wont get paid arbitrary large fees, but the amount of fees usually paid for similar case.
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samatman 14 days ago
I am doing so such thing. You are ignorant and you are being rude, it's a bad combination.

The English Rule has several variations by jurisdiction, you'll find a handy map here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_rule_(attorney's_fees)

In England (where pounds come from) costs are not always rewarded, but very frequently, they are: and it's actual costs, not some fixed fee. A litigant who spends more on solicitors indemnifies the loser accordingly.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costs_in_English_law#What_can_...?

Perhaps you live somewhere where this is not the usual basis. Perhaps you just felt like being rude online. We'll never know.

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