Restoring the private antitrust cases: contingent fees for economic experts.

Allowing contingency fee arrangements for economic experts is a potential solution to the burden of showing structural proof placed on antitrust plaintiffs. Structural proof, proof of market conditions and market power, became a requirement in the 1970s. Ethical rules currently prohibit contingency fees for expert testimony, though such fees are allowable for attorneys. Requiring judicial approval for all fee arrangements would help ensure that contingency fees for experts would not result in the expert testimony being biased.