From DrLEWalker@aol.com Mon Feb 2 15:24:04 2004 Received: from mxu5.u.washington.edu (mxu5.u.washington.edu [140.142.32.164]) by lists.u.washington.edu (8.12.10+UW03.09/8.12.10+UW03.09) with ESMTP id i12NO3uL022550 for ; Mon, 2 Feb 2004 15:24:03 -0800 Received: from imo-m02.mx.aol.com (imo-m02.mx.aol.com [64.12.136.5]) by mxu5.u.washington.edu (8.12.10+UW03.09/8.12.10+UW03.09) with ESMTP id i12NO2FK011891 for ; Mon, 2 Feb 2004 15:24:02 -0800 Received: from DrLEWalker@aol.com by imo-m02.mx.aol.com (mail_out_v36_r4.12.) id d.a4.424f8ede (25305) for ; Mon, 2 Feb 2004 18:23:58 -0500 (EST) From: DrLEWalker@aol.com Message-ID: Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2004 18:23:58 EST Subject: Re: contingent fees To: forensicguidelines@u.washington.edu MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="-----------------------------1075764238" X-Mailer: 9.0 for Windows sub 5100 X-Uwash-Spam: Gauge=IIIIIIII, Probability=8%, Report='NO_REAL_NAME 0.000' -------------------------------1075764238 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I agree that poor people, particularly women with limited resources, are at a disadvantage because of their inability to afford the up front costs for lawyers, especially solo practitioners representing plaintiffs. This is also true for appellate cases when children are involved and moms do not have the money to go further in the legal system. I do a lot of work on behalf of abused women and it is impossible to perform pro bono forensic evaluations for more than one or two women at any time in a forensic practice and still pay the bills. Furthermore, there are allegations of bias when providing pro bono services as there are when providing services that are expected to be paid in the future. Personally, I do the same, hopefully high quality, work whether or not I am getting immediately reinforced with my fees up front. I do accept a few cases where the attorneys provide a "letter of protection" that my fees will be paid from the proceeds of the case. I do not add on charges or interest to my basic fees, but sometimes I have to wait for two or more years to be paid. Lenore Walker -------------------------------1075764238 Content-Type: text/html; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
I agree that poor people, particularly women with limited resources, ar= e at a disadvantage because of their inability to afford the up front costs=20= for lawyers, especially solo practitioners representing plaintiffs. This is=20= also true for appellate cases when children are involved and moms do not hav= e the money to go further in the legal system. I do a lot of work on behalf=20= of abused women and it is impossible to perform pro bono forensic evaluation= s for more than one or two women at any time in a forensic practice and stil= l pay the bills. Furthermore, there are allegations of bias when providing p= ro bono services as there are when providing services that are expected to b= e paid in the future.  Personally, I do the same, hopefully high qualit= y, work whether or not I am getting immediately reinforced with my fees=  up front. I do accept a few cases where the attorneys provide a "lette= r of protection" that my fees will be paid from the proceeds of the case. I=20= do not add on charges or interest to my basic fees, but sometimes I have to=20= wait for two or more years to be paid.
Lenore Walker
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