[fiatmoney]

Who said anything about "moral perfection"? And how is changing the relationship between a lawyer and their putative clients not "treating it as an issue to be managed"? Whatever you do, if you make it more difficult for a lawyer to cash out early (via bullshit "settlements" like this, or the ever popular "here's a coupon for our products" or "here's a donation to the lawyer's friend's charity"), there will be fewer suits brought. That's a good thing on balance if the ones that remain actually have a deterrent effect - currently class-actions are more or less a cost of doing business. Whether that happens is more or less a technocratic problem.

For what it's worth, I hope Devine is successful. It would have been better had there been prosecutions all around with appreciable jail time, but unless a state AG wants to get involved, remitting the full damages and a significant penalty will have to do.