The Conflict Incentive There is a dirty secret in some family law cases, one that clients only learn about long after they’ve retained counsel, and sometimes only after they look back at the pain, stress, and expense of their divorce. The secret is that some family lawyers have a perverse incentive. Attorneys bill clients by the hour to solve their problems. That means they get paid more if the clients have more problems. Quite simply, lawyers have an economic incentive to create conflict to bill the file. Sure they have a lawyers’ creed that says they will be reasonable and advocate … [Read more...]