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.