By J.B. Heaton ( August 31, 2017, 2:29 PM EDT) -- Despite the great flexibility lawyers and clients have in fashioning fee arrangements in high-stakes civil cases, the hourly-fee model remains dominant, especially on the defense side. The survival of the hourly model is intriguing because it is at odds with the predictions of law and economics scholars. It is common in the law and economics literature to examine litigation-fee arrangements as games (in the sense of game theory) between clients and lawyers. The case presents itself to the litigant, the client and lawyer choose a fee arrangement, the lawyer invests effort, and the litigation is resolved at least partly as a function of the lawyer's effort....