Econ Papers Daily / 期刊论文
法律服务中的利益冲突、道德标准与竞争
Conflicts of interest, ethical standards, and competition in legal services†
摘要
We study how the legal profession manages representational conflicts of interest. These conflicts arise when a single law firm represents clients with opposing interests, threatening to undermine the legal process and, ultimately, social welfare. We argue that current ethical standards, emphasizing disqualification, may actually worsen the clients’ situation. Instead, the clients’ interests are today mainly safeguarded by law firms being small, reducing the incidence of conflicts. Despite low market concentration, law firms enjoy high earnings as representational conflicts create negative network externalities at the firm level. These profits are sustained in the long run as entry occurs through firm split-ups.
中文摘要
我们研究法律行业如何管理代理利益冲突。当一家律师事务所同时代理利益对立的客户时，便会产生此类冲突，进而可能损害法律程序，并最终损害社会福利。我们认为，当前强调取消代理资格的伦理标准，实际上可能使客户的处境恶化。相反，如今客户利益主要依靠律师事务所规模较小、从而降低冲突发生概率来得到保障。尽管市场集中度较低，律师事务所仍享有高额收益，因为代理冲突在事务所层面产生了负网络外部性。由于市场进入通过事务所拆分实现，这些利润在长期内得以维持。