Nancy B. Rapoport is the Gordon Silver Professor of Law at the William S. Boyd School of Law.Professor Rapoport's paper, "'Nudging' Better Lawyer Behavior: Using Default Rules and Incentives to Change Behavior in Law Firms," recently made the Social Science Research Network's top 10 downloads list for the topic area of Law Firms/Legal Practice. The article was published in the St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics, Volume 4.
The abstract reads, "This article examines how incentives in law firms can affect lawyer behavior and suggests some possible changes to incentive structures and default rules that might improve the ethical behavior of lawyers. In the changing landscape of law practice — where law firm profits are threatened by such changes as increased pressure from clients to economize and the concomitant opportunities for clients to shop around for the most efficient lawyers — are there ways to change how things are done in law firms so that firms can provide more efficient and ethical service? This article suggests that an understanding of cognitive biases and basic behavioral economics will help law firms tweak their incentives and default rules to promote the improved delivery of legal services."
Professor Rapoport's specialties are bankruptcy ethics, ethics in governance, and the depiction of lawyers in popular culture.
