It's easy to do that thought experiment at the extremes, but that's not what the article is about. It's talking primarily about corporate law, and a public company isn't going to hire a public defender.
More realistically, you're a company and you choose a $400/hr law firm instead of a $600/hr law firm. Are you necessarily going to get worse advice? I'd argue that would often just depend on how much experience each firm has in the particular subject you're hiring them for - and neither firm is adjusting their rates based on that.
Just yesterday I came across a situation where a major law firm was working as investor counsel on a type of deal they almost never advise on (because they're the clients usual firm for other types of deals) - I'm sure they didn't offer the client a discount because they have less experience than a lot of cheaper, less prominent law firms.
> It's easy to do that thought experiment at the extremes, but that's not what the article is about. It's talking primarily about corporate law, and a public company isn't going to hire a public defender.
More realistically, you're a company and you choose a $400/hr law firm instead of a $600/hr law firm. Are you necessarily going to get worse advice? I'd argue that would often just depend on how much experience each firm has in the particular subject you're hiring them for - and neither firm is adjusting their rates based on that.
Just yesterday I came across a situation where a major law firm was working as investor counsel on a type of deal they almost never advise on (because they're the clients usual firm for other types of deals) - I'm sure they didn't offer the client a discount because they have less experience than a lot of cheaper, less prominent law firms.