A settlement is an agreement between parties to a dispute. In everyday parlance and in academic scholarship, settlement … winner and announces a score. The “trial versus settlement” trope, however, represents a false choice; viewing settlement … and often does work. In this article, we describe and defend a much richer concept of settlement, amounting in effect to a …

-of-court settlement. One set of issues addressed is positive (or descriptive) in nature. Under what conditions will someone decide to file …, appeals, contingent fees for attorneys, alternative dispute resolution, class actions, and plea bargaining. …

contracting decreases the settlement rate and increases the volume and costs of litigation. These contingent contracts mimic the … transaction-cost free. However, contracting with third parties further decreases the settlement rate, increases the volume and …