Funding Litigation - Chapter 10

Private litigation in the United States is financed through a variety of attorney fee arrangements, including contingency fees, hourly fees, and alternative billing arrangements. Behind the scenes, these agreements between attorneys and clients are the lifeblood of private claims, as all such claims require adequate funding at each stage of  the litigation process to proceed. This chapter discusses the attorney fee arrangements commonly employed in private antitrust litigation in the United States. Although all such arrangements are addressed, the authors place particular emphasis on contingency fees, which have evolved to become a convention of our system’s primary tool for the private redress of the widespread harm that can be caused by antitrust violations: the class action. This chapter also discusses the typical costs associated with antitrust litigation, which are likewise significant in funding private antitrust claims in the United States. Costs play a role in budget considerations and vary depending on the stage of the litigation. Finally, this chapter discusses some of the noteworthy antitrust damage recoveries from the previous two decades and the funding arrangements that have accompanied them.

 

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