Vol. 70, No. 3, March
1997
The Wisconsin Contingent Fee
Practice Study
The information discussed in this article was collected by Prof. Herbert
M. Kritzer as part of the National Science Foundation-funded Wisconsin Contingent
Fee Practice The information discussed in this article was collected by
Prof. Herbert M. Kritzer as part of the National Science Foundation funded
Wisconsin Contingent Fee Practice Study. The data collection involved a
fall 1995 mail survey, direct observation during winter 1995-96 and interviews
conducted in summer and fall 1996.
The sample for the mail survey of Wisconsin contingent practitioners
was based upon the State Bar of Wisconsin Litigation Section mailing list.
The survey was executed for Prof. Kritzer by the University of Wisconsin
Survey Center in a manner designed to preserve respondent confidentiality.
A total of 511 useable questionnaires were returned, constituting a 48 percent
response rate. Most of the information in this article draws upon the survey
data.
The data collection also involved full-time observation of lawyers at
work by Prof. Kritzer, who spent approximately one month in each of three
different contingent fee practices. While present in each practice, Prof.
Kritzer's formal status was that of a paralegal, and in each practice he
provided some assistance with research and other activities. All of the
practices were within a one-hour driving distance of Madison, Wis. The practices
were chosen to reflect different types of settings: Two were practices concentrating
in contingent fee cases, one relatively high volume and one low volume;
the third was a mixed trial or court practice in which contingent fee work
constituted about 20 percent of the practice's work. The specific practices
were chosen based upon a combination of personal contacts and suggestions
by persons knowledgeable about local practitioners. Only one practice that
was originally contacted declined to participate.
Semi-structured interviews with approximately 50 contingent fee practitioners,
insurance defense counsel and current or retired insurance adjusters also
provided data. The plaintiffs' lawyers interviewed were selected from directories
and yellow page listings covering an area within about 100 miles of Madison.
Defense counsel or firms were identified by the plaintiffs' lawyers, and
insurance adjusters were identified by defense counsel.
An extended version of this article, "Contingent Fee Lawyers as
Gatekeepers in the American Civil Justice System," plus two additional
papers from the study ("Rhetoric and Reality ... Uses and Abuses ...
Contingencies and Certainties: The American Contingent Fee in Operation"
and The Wages of Risk: The Returns of Contingent Fee Practice") are
available from the Institute for Legal Studies, U.W. Law School, 975 Bascom
Mall, Madison, WI 53706; telephone (608) 263-2545. |