Where the fee is a flat percentage rate or a rate declining with increasing recovery, the lawyer intent on maximizing his profits could conclude that it would not pay him to invest more effort, when a knowledgeable client would be prepared to pay for extra time. 
Thus, there is much anecdotal evidence of a widespread practice to settle claims below value on a mass volume scale in the belief that the cost of further litigation to the lawyer would be disproportionate to any additional profit he might <tag "515647">derive</> from a larger jury award.   

