to come under the edict of that supreme court decision limiting the fee to the lodestar. they will settle the case before it gets to the point of a decision and then negotiate with the defendant the fee that the lawyer will be paid separately through the settlement, separate from the amount to be paid to the class. in that way, they completely circumvent the supreme court rule that says in a statutory class-action that you can only get a lodestar. this will give them double, triple, quadruple the lodestar. or even more multiples than that. the bottom line is, and nobody will be shocked -- this is not the line out of casablanca. lawyers seek their own self-interest. and the courts have tolerated it. you see all kinds of judicial talk about what is a clear sailing agreement. you have to look more closely because maybe things are not quite right about that. sometimes they talk the talk, but they almost never walked the walk. they will say you have to pay particular attention when judges say certain kinds of things, but the reality is that when push comes to shove, they favor

you can only get a lodestar.this would give them, double, triple, quadruple where even more multiples than that. so the bottom line -- and nobody is going to be shocked. this is not the line at of possible lock up. lawyers seek their own self-interest. and the courts have tolerated this. now, you see all kinds of judicial talks. there is a clear standing agreement you have to look more closely because maybe things are not quite right about that. well, sometimes they talk the talk, but they almost never walk the walk. they will say, we have to pay particular attention as judges to certain kinds of things, but the reality is when push comes to shove it basically favor the interests of the lawyer. the lawyers, when they seek fees , generally get approval for about 90 percent of the fees that they're seeking, which is quite a telling statistic. and really the best hope that we have for changing this situation, i think, is the work that ted is doing. he has obtained some really fantastic decisions, but more importantl

"lodestar" the rather than their percentage fee, which is often two to five times the amount of the lodestarthe lawyers will settle a statutory class-action claim with the defendant so as not to come under the edict of that supreme court decision limiting the fee to the lodestar. they will settle the case before it gets to the point of a and then negotiate with the defendant the fee that the lawyer will be paid separately through the settlement, separate from the amount to be paid to the class. in that way, they completely the supreme court rule that says in a statutory only-action that you can get a lodestar. this will give them double, triple, quadruple the lodestar. or even more multiples than that. the bottom line is, and nobody will be shocked -- this is not the line out of casablanca. lawyers seek their own self-interest. and the courts have tolerated it. you see all kinds of judicial talk about what is a clear sailing agreement. you have to look more closely because maybe things are not quite right about that. sometimes they talk the talk, but they almost never walked the walk. pay wi

the lodestar is on an honor system basis. frankly, i think there is an enormous amount of cheating that goes on. if you are sitting down and writing yourself a check, you have a choice. you do not write the check to $1000 to yourself or $10,000 or $100,000. this is tough. i have to decide which one i will do. there is a way in which judges could go behind us. they do not want to because if this was really exposed, it would be an embarrassment to the judiciary. but if the judge required not just the fee request of a law firm, which could run thousands of pages, many in one firm working on the matter, but if they required the firms when they put in a fee request, to also put in the hours their staff people, their attorneys, have worked on all class actions, as well as all other matters. this could be done electronically so that is it is a very simple coding process. you would find out the depth of cheating that goes on in terms of how many hours worked, my seat-of-the-pants sense is we're talking about anywhere from 25 to 40% o

hours claimed in the lodestar are simply -- i don't mean the kind of hours were you me with your partner and you both bill. and talking about real cheating. >> fascinating, and we can talk about it all might mumble we're running short on time. .. there are a lot of good things in judges making sure we hold judges accountable is important. >> all good ideas and the one idea that is not feasible unfortunately is too cloned ted frank but he is an american treasure. for those of you out there in a national television audience how did they get in touch with you ted if they want to send you a case or send you a check wax. >> well class-action fairness .org i think and class-action fairness@gmail.com. >> those of you out here if you got a bad notice in the mail where you just think this is a problem and ted needs more than for lawyers to fight all the cases out there give him some help. let's thank our panel wittman and lester brickman. [applause] those of you in the room who want cle credit sign out and turn in your evaluation form. thanks. [inaudible conversations] >> at the creation museum b