I couldn't find the thread I started this in, so...

Thinking on it, paying the lawyers at the end might actually be a big 
factor in cutting down silly lawsuits.

In the US, one tends to either have lawyers on salary (if you're a big 
enough corporation) or have to pay them pretty much up-front for 
defending lawsuits. Hence, it's easy for a big corporation to get you to 
fold even if you're right, just by threatening to make you keep paying 
your lawyer or lose. Even if the lawyer would get paid by the big 
corporation if you win, you don't have the funds to cause that win.

If the usual is to pay the lawyer at the end, this might have two 
effects. First, it lets you defend yourself in lawsuits you're confident 
you'll win. Second, it lets poor people sue big corporations if they 
have a good case.

I can see it might make it harder to find a lawyer to defend you if 
you're actually likely to lose and you're poor, but it might also keep 
someone from trying to sue you if you're poor, because the prosecuting 
lawyer knows he's not going to get paid even if he wins.


Hmmm... Potentially big effects from relatively small changes in the 
normal way of getting paid?

-- 
   Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
     "That's pretty. Where's that?"
          "It's the Age of Channelwood."
     "We should go there on vacation some time."

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