During dinner with a friend last night, the discussion eventually turned to a civil suit that he had brought against a neighbor for illegally cutting down trees.  As he had shown me the papers during the pendency of the case, I had some familiarity with the subject.

With a relatively casual demeanor, my pal told me that legal fees for the action were “a little more than $75,000.”  Trying my best to keep my composure, I repeated “$75,000?”  “Yup,” he said, “it was a high-powered law firm.”  They lost the case.  They should not have lost the case.  The work performed on my friend’s behalf was, at best, pedestrian and much of it pointless fluff that served no apparent purpose other than to grind out hours. 

“Are you okay with that?”  I asked, again with a casual air, as if it was no big deal to pay $75,000 over some trees and still end up the loser.  “I guess they did everything they could,” he answered, leaving me to believe that he tosses that kind of money around on a regular basis. 

Fade to black.  Close-up of my subconscious:  I could have done that case for a third of the cost, and won it.  I represent people whose lives hang in the balance, and who think that a third of that is too high a price for their defense.  “I’m in the wrong business,” I muttered under my breath. 

My faux relaxed appearance must have belied my inner turmoil.  “What’s the matter,” my good buddy asked.  What am I supposed to say.  Please don’t misunderstand; I have had many clients over the years whose lives have been worth many times that amount, and who have happily paid for the finest lawyering possible, with every bell and whistle that the profession can muster to provide as great an opportunity to prevail as possible.  What I have difficulty with is that a civil litigator, whose work is mediocre and litigation experience clearly meager at best, can charge multiples of the value of yeoman legal services without raising the client’s cackles. 

The vast majority of criminal cases do not involve well-heeled white collar defendants.  There just aren’t that many Martha Stewart’s around.  Most involve regular people, for whom the legal fee represents a significant portion of their net worth.  And they are not inclined to give it up without a fight, which is understandable, but at the same time want to be represented by an OJ-like dream team.  They just can’t, or won’t, pay for it.  It’s worse with innocent clients, who argue that they shouldn’t have to pay because they didn’t do anything.  As if the whole mess is the lawyer’s fault.

But that’s the criminal situation; Civil litigation, apparently, suffers from no similar issues, as they run up the bill more slowly, and suck it in dollar by dollar, knowing that they can be relieved whenever the bank runs dry.  Criminal defense lawyers don’t just walk away when the client becomes a rock (you know, you can’t get blood from a rock?)  The court won’t let us, but more importantly, we feel a different sense of duty toward our clients.  For civil lawyers, it’s just money.  For criminal lawyers, lives are at stake. 

To express my feelings to my friend would only add insult to injury.  It was bad enough the lawyer lost the case.  He didn’t need to know that he overpaid as well.  I let my friend pick up the tab for dinner.