May 16, 2007

An executive order signed today bars United States government agencies from hiring contingent-fee attorneys or expert witnesses to litigate on behalf of the government. The Institute for Legal Reform applauded the decision, and called for state governments to follow suit. A California court recently struck down such arrangements in that state as an inherently unethical conflict of interest. See County of Santa Clara v. Atlantic Richfield Company, No. 1-00-CV-788657 (Cal. Super. Ct. Apr. 4, 2007) (via the increasingly indispensable Beck and Herrmann). (Cross-posted at Overlawyered.)