Yeazell, p. 3-5: “Procedure, Lawyers, and Clients”
Steve says that most disputes that could end up as lawsuits actually do not. The ones that get to court, he says, are the exception to the rule.
When you hire a lawyer, you’re faced with a real human being with conflicting interests and priorities. Sometimes your lawyer fails to act on your best interests because they’re careless or they otherwise suck.
When a lawyer screws up, there are two main ways to fix things:
Each of these has plusses and minuses. If the lawyer is allowed to correct their mistake, it will hurt the opposing side and make the system at large less efficient. If the only way you let people fix things is to let the client sue their own attorney, it means that the client is in for an extra lawsuit and will incur more costs.
Steve says we’ll see the system grapple with this pair of unattractive alternatives frequently.