Publication Date

1997

Journal

Harvard Negotiation Law Review

Abstract

In the inaugural issue of the Harvard Negotiation Law Review, Professors David Croson and Robert Mnookin attempt a game-theoretic defense of the nonrefundable retainer. A nonrefundable retainer is an attorney fee arrangement that requires a client to pay her lawyer a specified dollar amount in advance and entitles the lawyer to keep the fee even if he does no work. For nearly a decade, we have argued that nonrefundable retainers are unethical as a matter of professional responsibility and unenforceable as a matter of law. In the last few years, numerous courts have evaluated the enforceability of these agreements, choosing to ban these fee devices on ethical and legal grounds. Scholars of ethics have participated in a robust debate concerning nonrefundable retainers and have appraised the benefits and burdens that such fee arrangements pose. Yet, Croson and Mnookin assert that none of the "attacks" on nonrefundable retainers "have considered the beneficial strategic effects."

Volume

2

First Page

69

Last Page

86

Publisher

Harvard Law School

Keywords

Money, Professional Ethics in Law, Legal Profession, Remedies

Disciplines

Law | Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility | Legal Profession | Legal Remedies

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