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Comment by MertsA | Hacker News Reader

If that doesn't scream "hush money" I don't know what does. What possible reasonable excuse for giving the lawyer millions could they possibly come up with? I get the feeling that I'm somehow reading this wrong as that seems like that's separate from any compensation the lawyer arranged with his client.

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I don't see how a lawyer could accept what is effectively bribe money without getting disbarred...

A lawyer will probably earn more than that in a lifetime, so why would he accept?

Because he still has the rest of his lifetime this way?

Nobody accepting a bribe plans on being caught. I expect this is a similiar case.

What's the "bribe" here? It's unlawful to bribe an official (to subvert the will of the people by subverting individual government employees). It's unlawful to bribe a witness in an actual current court case. There are doubtless other particular instances of unlawful "bribery". Which of them does this fit into?

That’s how they paid they lawyer’s fee. Instead of a $7.5 million settlement to the client, with the lawyer then taking at 40% contingency fee, the settlement splits it into two checks separately paid. Has to do with how the payment is reported to the IRS on 1099 forms

Does a 40% contingency fee seem normal here? The article makes it seem like this didn't escalate past sending a strongly worded extortion letter. Is it normal for lawyers to take such a huge cut for something that never went to court? Also, how could this have ever gone to a civil suit? From the sound of it, the letter detailed a bunch of shady, illegal things that Uber was doing but the plaintiff wouldn't have had standing for that would he?

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