You have to wonder what the legal ramifications would be if Wal-Mart itself decided to set its employees’ pay (even its high executives’) the way its courtroom nemesis is used to doing:
The $172 million Wal-Mart meal-break verdict won by The Furth Firm in 2005 ranks among the top 10 verdicts nationally, but few of the lawyers will be around to celebrate if and when the money arrives. A number of them have left the San Francisco-based firm, and none appear to have any guarantee of sharing in the eventual proceeds. Founder Frederick Furth, the sole owner of the firm, says salaries and bonuses are paid at his discretion, and no written compensation agreements exist for any cases.
(Petra Pasternak, “Small Firm’s Lawyers Not Waiting for Wal-Mart Fees”, The Recorder, Aug. 27; quoted text is Law.com summary).
3 Comments
Well, that just means more litigation — and the ultimate kind of contingency fee litigation: The kind you litigate over getting your piece of the fee.
What’s not to like?
I’m sure the law firm is all for the “little guy” (as they laugh all the way to the bank).
Call it malignant cannibalism.