Quimbo, Stella A.Cada, Leonard Alec G.2025-01-162025-01-162006-03https://selib.upd.edu.ph/etdir/handle/123456789/4068The concept of how the legal service market behaves raises many implications on the justice system in the country. Explaining the price-setting of this market will definitely help to justify if there is a need for government intervention. If so, the points that will be raised in the discussions here can be used as basis for policy implications. Price differentials are usually observed in the market for legal services. It is evident that lawyer's fees may range from free of charge up to substantial amounts of hundred thousands for providing the legal service to their client. To explain these price differences, the paper considers the following possible sources of price variations in lawyer's fee: 1. profit maximizing price discriminating behavior of the lawyer 2. discount motives of the lawyer 3. quality differences among lawyer's 4. costs of the lawyer accounting for the services made 5. effective mode of payment used by lawyers A model of a profit maximizing lawyer will be used to verify these possible explanations. The cost of the lawyer varies on a case-to-case basis, thus partially explains the differences in prices among lawyer's fees. Quality is also an important explanation for these differences in prices. The mark-up that the lawyer receives as clients move from a low quality lawyer to a high quality lawyer may be considered as quality premium, or an additional cost for the client for, at least, a "higher confidence," and at most, an "assurance" of receiving a better service from a quality lawyer. In addition, charity motive is also considered in the model in order to control below-marginal-cost pricing which is also known as cross subsidization. Lastly, lawyers classify their clients based on their client's willingness to pay, hence extracting their consumer surplus through a profit maximizing price discriminating behavior.enLegal servicesPrice-settingLegal pricingLaw firm pricingProfessional feeLegal service economicsThesis