I should preface this writing by letting you know that my father was an attorney, as was his father before him. By marrying the daughter of an attorney and she sprouting me, I was born with two attorney grandfathers. My father was comfortable in that situation in that both of his brothers were lawyers, one being Richard Courtney, for whom I am named. I loved them all.

To take this a step further, my great-grandfather practiced law, as did my first cousin. My nephew, Courtney Moore, is embarking on a career in law after recently graduating from law school. I even have a brother-in-law with a law degree.

I hire real estate attorneys to close all of my real estate transactions and I have an errors and omission attorney, an intellectual property attorney and a music business attorney. Another attorney represents my real estate clients when they need to sue a builder, and she is the busiest of all.

There is an attorney to whom I have entrusted with my will and estate planning, as the most important thing I will do financially is die, and he will ensure all is well at that point. An attorney will care for my children when I have left this world for the big Beatles concert in the sky. I hope to meet David Crockett when the time is right.

In short, my life and my business are carried on the backs of attorneys.

When I was in the fourth grade in 1964, my father won a landmark case against what was then South Central Bell. The guy wires supporting their telephone poles were not clad in yellow plastic before his case. Now, they are.

He explained to me the fee arrangement for attorneys, that they could charge by the hour or take a case on a contingency basis, meaning the attorney would get 33% if it went to court or 25% if settled out of court.

I heard those same numbers in lawsuits on which I was a party in the 1980s and another in the 1990s. I always opted for the contingency fee, a condition that neither the attorneys nor I would be paid unless our side prevailed.

In a recent conversation with a practicing barrister, he confirmed that while all fees are flexible, the 33/25% fee structure remains the standard. So in 60 years, there has been no change.

Contingency fees seem fair enough since, in many cases, the opposing side wins, leaving the attorney with nothing to show for what might have been years of work.

Almost all real estate transactions are on contingency. Very few real estate brokers are paid for their services before the closing. There are agents who spend thousands of dollars promoting houses with photography, which now includes drones, videos and still photographs. They might host broker open houses, feed scores of real estate brokers or host catered receptions. Often, especially lately, the houses do not sell, and another broker acquires the listing, usually at a reduced price.

Buyers might look at 200 houses with one agent and then buy another house. In the past, as the listing agreement emphatically stated, the buyers’ agents would be paid by the listing company with proceeds paid to the listing company from the sale when it happened.

Other professions are in the same boat. No one receives compensation until the deal closes, yet the Realtors have been hammered with a $1.4 billion settlement. Interestingly, the real estate news service Inman News reported “Lawyers representing homeseller plaintiffs seek one-third of the $110.6 million raised from the settlement of nine of the biggest real estate firms in the country – or $36.87 million.”

That sounds eerily similar to the “standard” rate charged in Columbia, Tennessee, in the 1960s.

Oddly, the lawsuit that started all of the hubbub was because a seller did not feel he should pay an adversarial buyer’s agent, yet the plaintiff attorneys are being paid by the defendants. Buyers’ agents and plaintiffs’ attorneys are somewhat similar in their duties and obligations to their clients.

By the way, the $36.87 million the plaintiffs’ attorneys are requesting is about 10% of the fee. Quick math reveals they will receive $368.7 million when all the defendants have paid. Just like the ’60s.

Some things never change. Others do. Successful listings will negotiate a fee to pay the buyers’ brokers.

In closing, the attorneys had better beware of the Department of Justice and plaintiff lawsuits. They were not too thrilled with the way Realtors conducted business for the past 60 years.

Richard is a licensed real estate broker with Fridrich and Clark Realty, LLC and can be reached at [email protected].