Law Practice
Mar. 11, 2017
Attorney fees system is bad for us all
The issue has history: In Britain, the loser of a lawsuit pays the attorney fees of the winner. The "American rule," by contrast, is that absent a contractual provision, each side pays its own legal fees — win or lose. By Richard Schulman
Richard A. Schulman
Email: rschulman@hechtsolberg.com
Richard is an attorney in San Diego specializing in land use and municipal law.
Law schools teach that the adversarial system is the best way to find the truth and reach justice. However, a tilted adversarial system accomplishes neither. Most of the public - and many attorneys - are not aware of the biggest tilt in our civil justice system: awarding only certain types of parties their attorney fees.
The issue has history: In Britain, the source of our common law tradition, the loser of a lawsuit pay...
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