Anderson v. Elliott’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

11 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 11 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[A]n attorney-client fee dispute is no ordinary contractual controversy. Members of the public as a practical matter have access to the courts only through their attorneys, and that access is impaired by collateral controversies over legal charges. Furthermore, in the view of many observers, attorney fee disputes are the principal source of public dissatisfaction with the judicial system.... Practicing lawyers have few more difficult tasks than billing their clients, and at the same time clients often misunderstand the basis of their attorneys’ bills. In these circumstances it is advantageous to both lawyers and clients to have available a simple, speedy, and rehable system for resolving fee questions. In particular, the system must be one that can be used effectively by clients whose experience with the legal system is likely to be limited and bewildering, and who in disputes with their own attorneys go into court on an unequal footing. In light of that need, the Supreme Judicial Court’s requirement that an attorney be prepared to submit to a less formal nonjury adjudication of fee disputes is an entirely reasonable exercise of the judicial power to superintend the bar. Rule 9 is a narrowly tailored response to a problem that arises not infrequently in the attorney-client relationship. Rule 9 replaces, at the client’s request, any trial in court with a method of dispute resolution that accords full due process to the attorney, including the judicial safeguards of the Uniform”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. A. Fred Miller v. Purvis

2. “If there is then pending before a court or agency of this State an action instituted by either petitioner or respondent involving the disputed fees, then such action shall, upon motion by the petitioner, be stayed until such dispute is resolved pursuant to this rule; and the award hereunder shall be determinative .of the action so stayed.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Harrington v. Lord

3. “A lawyer shall not enter into an agreement for, charge, or collect an illegal or excessive fee. A fee is excessive when, after a review of the facts, a lawyer of ordinary prudence would be left with a definite and firm conviction that the fee is in excess of a reasonable fee.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Harrington v. Lord