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FLAT FEE FUNDAMENTALS: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE ETHICAL ISSUES SURROUNDING THE FLAT FEE AFTER IN RE MANCE
Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics Summer, 2010 23 Geo. J. Legal Ethics 701
There is no doubt that current economic trends are motivating law firms and their clients to reassess billing practices. The once invincible billable hour is increasingly criticized, and a growing number of attorneys are abandoning it in favor of “flat fee” or “fixed fee” arrangements. Indeed, the flat fee can provide several benefits for both…
….. Brickman & Cunningham, Nonrefundable Retainers Revisited, supra note 6, at 12 (citing Brief for New York State Ass’n of Criminal Defense Lawyers & National Ass’n of Criminal Defense Lawyers et al. as Amici Curiae Supporting Respondent at 3, In re Cooperman 591 N.Y.S.2d 855 (N.Y. App. Div. 1993) (No. 90-00429) (criminal defense and matrimonial); Karen Winner, City of New York Dep’t of Consumer Affairs, Women in Divorce: Lawyers, Ethics, Fees and Fairness 3-4 (1992) (matrimonial); Lester Brickman & Jonathan Klein, The Use of Advance Fee, Attorney Retainer Agreements in Bankruptcy: Another Special Law for Lawyers?, 43 S.C. L. Rev. 1037, 1076 (1992) (bankruptcy))… (Link to original publication)
BUILDING ‘A DOLL’S HOUSE’: A FEMINIST ANALYSIS OF MARITAL DEBT DISCHARGEABILITY IN BANKRUPTCY
Villanova Law Review 2003 48 Vill. L. Rev. 381
MUCH has been written about divorce in this country, the ‘feminization of poverty‘ that may be fairly attributed to the rise in divorce rates and the resulting financial hardship that often occurs. Less noticeably, a feminist discussion has evolved concerning the intersection of divorce and bankruptcy, specifically the discharge of marital debts in…
…. According to author Karen Winner, even women of financial means often find it hard to gain access to the courts at the end of marriage….
…In Divorced From Justice, Karen Winner writes extensively about ex-husbands’ divorce lawyers discrediting the ex-wife’s character as a tactic to gain an advantage in the divorce… (Link to original publication)
PARENTAL ALIENATION SYNDROME AND PARENTAL ALIENATION: GETTING IT WRONG IN CHILD CUSTODY CASES
Family Law Quarterly Fall, 2001 35 Fam. L.Q. 527
As American courts and legislatures continue their enthusiastic ventures into family law reform, they make frequent use of theories and research from the social sciences. This essay focuses on developments in child custody law stemming from Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS), a theory propounded in 1985 that became widely used despite its lack of…
…This evaluator and his partner continue to apply Gardner’s principles fully, even in the face of serious abuse concerns, although now referring to “a parental alienation matter” rather than PAS, according to investigative reporter Karen Winner, who was commissioned by a parents’ organization to investigate family law practices in the Sacramento, California courts…
…. See, e.g., Gina Keating, Disputed Theory Used in Custody Cases: Children Often Victims in Parental Alienation Syndrome Strategy, Pasadena Star-NewsSSS, April 23, 2000, at http://www.canow.org/NOWintheNews/familylaw_news_ text.html (last visited April 8, 2001); Mothers of Lost Children, Sample of California Family Law Cases: Children Taken Away from Safe Parents, Forced to Live With Abusive Parents(2000), available from Mothers of Lost Children, P.O. Box 1803, Davis, CA 95617; Karen Winner, Placing Children at Risk: Questionable Psychologists and Therapists in the Sacramento Family Court and Surrounding Counties (2000) (study commissioned by California Protective Parents Association)… (Link to original publication)
DOES THE DISSOLUTION OF COVENANT MARRIAGES MIRROR COMMON LAW ENGLAND’S SUBORDINATION OF WOMEN?
William & Mary Journal of Women and the Law Winter, 1998 5 Wm. & Mary J. Women & L. 207
On July 15, 1997, the Louisiana Legislature passed a covenant marriage law, designed to strengthen the family and decrease divorce rates. This law limits the means of ending undesirable unions by curtailing the causes for divorce. The limitations placed on parties who wish to dissolve a covenant marriage are reminiscent of the restricted means of…
…. See Karen Winner, Divorced from Justice 31 (1996)… (Link to original publication)
YES, NO, AND MAYBE: INFORMED DECISION MAKING ABOUT DIVORCE MEDIATION IN THE PRESENCE OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
William and Mary Journal of Women and the Law Winter, 2003 9 Wm. & Mary J. Women & L. 145
All happy families are like one another; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. Divorce mediation in the context of domestic violence is one of the most controversial issues in family law today. Some believe that mediation is never appropriate when domestic violence has taken place, and others believe that it is always appropriate and…
…. Karen Winner, Divorced From Justice: The Abuse of Women and Children by Divorce Lawyers and Judges xviii (1996)… (Link to original publication)
REASKING THE WOMAN QUESTION AT DIVORCE
Chicago-Kent Law Review 2000 75 Chi.-Kent L. Rev. 713
Feminists have said much about women’s experiences at divorce. They also have developed theories and proposed changes in legal standards and procedures that would benefit divorcing women. Yet women remain disadvantaged during divorce and face numerous hardships after their marriages dissolve. The disconnect between feminist contributions and what…
…. See California Gender Bias Report, supra note 6, at 193-94; Massachusetts Gender Bias Report, supra note 2, at 20-21; Ohio Gender Bias Report, supra note 8, at 72-74; Report of the Oregon Supreme Court/Oregon State Bar Task Force on Gender Fairness 55 (1998) [hereinafter Oregon Gender Bias Report]; Karen Winner, Divorced from Justice: The Abuse of Women and Children by Divorce Lawyers and Judges xviii-xxxix (1996); Bryan, supra note 3, at 1174-75; Karen Czapanskiy, Domestic Violence, the Family, and the Lawyering Process: Lessons from Studies on Gender Bias in the Courts, 27 Fam. L.Q. 247, 250 n.11 (1993)… (Link to original publication)
IDEALS, REALITIES, AND LAWYER FEES
Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics Summer, 1997 10 Geo. J. Legal Ethics 619
I must confess that my first reaction to Professor Gillers’ article, Caveat Client: How the Proposed Final Draft of the Restatement of the Law Governing Lawyers Fails to Protect Unsophisticated Consumers in Fee Agreements with Lawyers, was peevish. Why must he advance his critique after we Reporters, repeatedly charged by some members of the…
…. See, e.g., Mark Green, Women in Divorce: Lawyers, Ethics, Fees and Fairness (1992) (describing abuses of divorce lawyers); James Dao, Divorce Lawyers Assailed in Study by Albany Panel, N.Y. Times, May 5, 1993, at 1, col. 3; Karen Winner, No Honeymoon for Judge Kaye, Newsday, Nov. 18, 1993, at 110… (Link to original publication)
THE COERCION OF WOMEN IN DIVORCE SETTLEMENT NEGOTIATIONS
Denver University Law Review 1997 74 Denv. U. L. Rev. 931
This essay addresses contextual coercion (or, in Alan Wertheimer’s terms, unfair background conditions ) in divorce settlement negotiations. I argue that psychological, social, practical and legal impediments create a hostile environment in which many divorcing wives bargain. As a result of these unfair background conditions, many wives enter…
…. See, e.g., Weitzman, supra note 22, at 106-07; Karen Winner, Divorced from Justice: The Abuse of Women and Children by Divorce Lawyers and Judges 41-42 (1996)… (Link to original publication)
WOMEN’S FREEDOM TO CONTRACT AT DIVORCE: A MASK FOR CONTEXTUAL COERCION
Buffalo Law Review Fall 1999 47 Buff. L. Rev. 1153
Current wisdom favors the private settlement of divorce disputes. Allowing men and women to enter enforceable divorce contracts recognizes their rights-bearing citizenship, honors their autonomy, and places them on equal legal footing with one another. Moreover, the parties themselves generally prefer settlement to adjudication, believing rightly…
…. Karen Winner relates one woman’s story: After divorce proceedings began, a judge ordered Mr. Miller to continue supporting his wife and their three young sons…
…Karen Winner, Divorced From Justice: The Abuse of Women and Children by Divorce Lawyers and Judges 23-24 (1996); see also Florence W. Kaslow & Lita Linzer Schwartz, The Dynamics of Divorce: A Life Cycle Perspective 66 (1987)… (Link to original publication)
WHAT’S A WOMAN TO DO?: A LOOK AT PRIVATE CHILD SUPPORT AGREEMENTS IN VIRGINIA
William and Mary Journal of Women and the Law Winter, 2003 9 Wm. & Mary J. Women & L. 295
Over the years, state legislatures drastically changed family law guidelines in order to protect the interest of mothers and their children. This phenomenon occurred in part because of a paradigm shift in belief about the rights of mothers and their dependent children. In the past, the law recognized children as property of their fathers, but today…
…See, e.g., Karen Winner, Divorced from Justice: The Abuse of Women and Children by Divorce Lawyers and Judges 13 (1996)… (Link to original publication)
UCLA Women’s Law Journal Spring-Summer 1997 7 UCLA Women’s L.J. 323
Date Rape is a compilation of articles by lawyers, philosophers, and feminists that analyzes the meaning of date rape and how it should be criminally punished. The collection explores whether the model of “communicative sexuality” is an appropriate basis for the condemnation of date rape. In the communicative sexuality model of “good sex,” each…
…In her book, Divorced from Justice: The Abuse of Women and Children by Divorce Lawyers and Judges, Karen Winner asserts that the divorce court system is a lucrative industry that preys upon divorcing women and their children…
…Divorced from Justice: the Abuse of Women and Children by Divorce Lawyers and Judges. by Karen Winner. New York: Regan Books, 1996. Pp. 329. $24.00… (Link to original publication)