Lawyer rankings either do not matter for litigation outcomes or are redundant. Issue 2 (3rd May 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Hanretty, Chris
• Is Part Of: International journal of the legal profession. Volume 23:Issue 2(2016)
• Page Start: 185
• Page End: 205
• Publication Date: 2016-05-03
• Subjects: Lawyers -- Periodicals; Practice of law -- Periodicals; 340
• DOI: 10.1080/09695958.2015.1133422
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0969-5958

Abstract

ABSTRACT: I investigate the success of litigants in tax cases in England and Wales between 1996 and 2010. I explore the effect upon success of having better-ranked legal representation, according to rankings of barristers published by Chambers . I find that, for a variety of model specifications, there is no significant positive effect of having better-ranked legal representation. After conducting a sensitivity analysis, I conclude that better-ranked legal representation might have a positive effect on litigation outcomes, but only if better-ranked lawyers receive cases that are substantially more difficult to win. However, if better-ranked lawyers receive substantially more difficult cases, this suggests consumers of legal representation are sophisticated enough to dispense with legal rankings.