On page 4 of the latest decision requiring Barbra Streisand to compensate opposing counsel ~$177,000 after losing her civil case, the judge refers to Children's Hosp. and Medical Center v. Bonta, which contains a delightful examination of incentives:
The example DHS finds most egregious is the complaint, which is only six pages long. Respondents� counsel spent 39 hours preparing this document, which DHS says any competent lawyer could draft in an hour or two. We reject this analysis. The length of a document is no gauge of the time needed to prepare it. The pithy pleadings that are most effective usually require more time to prepare than the endlessly discursive and digressive documents judges often receive. Moreover, given the complexities of this case, the precise language of the concise complaint warranted the exceptional attention counsel devoted to its preparation. Judicial use of the length of a pleading or brief as a measure of the time necessary to prepare it would reward verbosity and penalize thoughtful and precise draftsmanship. Given the ponderous plethora of prolix pleadings that inundate our courts, no trial judge in his or her right mind would adopt such an approach.
