Attorney's fee
Encyclopedia
Attorney's fee is a chiefly United States
term for compensation for legal services performed by an attorney
(lawyer
or law firm
) for a client, in or out of court. It may be an hourly, flat-rate or contingent fee. Attorney fees are separate from fines, compensatory and punitive damages, and (except in Nevada
) from court costs
in a legal case. Surveys suggest that fees range from $150 to $1000 per hour when billed hourly. Under "the American rule
" attorney fees are usually not paid by the losing party to the winning party in a case, except at the federal level or for specific statutory
reasons.
being an exception), attorney fees are tabulated separately from court costs
, and are also separate from fines, compensatory and punitive damages, and other monies in a legal case not enumerated as court costs.
The analogous concept has differing names and applicability in common law
systems such as in most of the Commonwealth of Nations
, and in civil law
systems such as those of most of Europe
and many former European colonies. For example, in a court case under English law
, the fees of solicitors and barristers (two types of lawyer) are combined with court costs and various other expenses into a combined "costs", while non-court solicitor expenses may be separately billed as per-hour charges and those of barristers as daily brief fees. The losing party in a case in most common law systems pays for the costs (including fees) of both parties.
State law
s or bar association
regulations, many of which are based on Rule 1.5 of the American Bar Association
's Rules of Professional Conduct, govern the terms under which lawyers can accept fees. Many complaints to ethics boards regarding attorneys revolve around excessive attorney's fees.
In some American jurisdiction
s, a lawyer for the plaintiff
in a civil
case can take a case on a contingent fee basis. A contingent fee is a percentage of the monetary judgment or settlement. The contingent fee may be split among several firms who have contractual arrangements amongst themselves for referrals or other assistance. Where a plaintiff loses, the attorney may not receive any money for his or her work.
The contingent fee has been described as the ‘poor man’s key to the courthouse." Whereas, corporations or wealthy individuals can afford to hire attorneys to pursue their legal interests, the contingency fee affords any injury victim the opportunity, regardless of ability to pay, to hire the best attorney in his or her field. Most jurisdictions in the United States prohibit working for a contingent fee in family law
or criminal
cases.
In the United States, an up-front fee paid to a lawyer is called a retainer
. Money within the retainer is often used to "buy" a certain amount of work. Some contracts provide that when the money from the retainer is gone, the fee is renegotiated. This is to be differentiated between a retainer in Commonwealth states, where a retainer is the contract that is initially signed by a client to engage a lawyer. Money may or may not be paid upfront, but the lawyer is still "retained".
s in the United States bill between $
200 and $1,000 per hour for their lawyers' time, though fees charged by smaller firms are much lower. The rate varies tremendously by location as well as the specific area of law practiced. Typically insurance defense firms have lower hourly rates than non-insurance firms, but are compensated by having steady, regular paying work provided. Locations like Salt Lake City will average $150 per hour for an associate's time on a basic case, but will increase for larger firms.
Many surveys of hourly rates are done. The American Intellectual Property Law Association
("AIPLA") commissions a survey of its members every 2 years and it publishes these in what it calls a "Report of the Economic Survey". The latest one is dated June 2007. Rates are collected for 14 geographic areas and by associate or partner. Many courts have followed the rates shown by these AIPLA surveys and they are highly-regarded for Intellectual Property litigation.
The State Bar of Oregon and the Colorado State Bar also have published a survey of rates for various areas of Oregon and Colorado and these are available online.
Perhaps the most widely followed set of rates are what is called the Laffey Matrix
that is available from the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia. These have been available since 1982 and are updated each year. The hourly rates are shown by years of experience. For June 1, 2006 to May 31, 2007 the rates are as follows: 20+ years of experience, $425 per hour; 11–19 years, $375; 8–10 years, $305; 4–7 years, $245; 1–3 years, $205; and Paralegals/law clerks $120 http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/dc/Divisions/Civil_Division/Laffey_Matrix_6.html. The Laffey Matrix appears to be growing in acceptance by many courts throughout the United States, but the matrix must be adjusted to account for higher or lower costs for legal services in other areas.
Hourly rates are increasing almost every year and some lawyers charge substantially higher than the rates shown by the Laffey Matrix. The first American attorney to regularly charge a four-digit hourly fee ($1000 and higher) was Benjamin Civiletti
in late 2005.
With the ongoing recession of the 2000s, corporate clients began driving attorneys increasingly toward alternative fee arrangements
, or AFAs. AFAs can include flat fees (per matter), fixed fees (for a "book" of matters), success bonuses, and other options beyond straight hourly billing.
advocates propose adopting a "loser pays" rule in the United States. Federal district court and Court of Appeals
judges award costs to the prevailing party under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
54.
In some jurisdictions, statutes may permit judge
s and juries
to independently impose "loser pays"; for example, a judge may say: "I am ruling for the plaintiff on the amount of $[sum] plus all court costs and attorney fees." But generally, state court judges have no common law authority to award such fees against the losing party. Some settlement agreements
, arbitration
agreements and other extra-judicial contract
s may also stipulate a loser-pays arrangement.
A number of federal laws provide for an award of attorney fees for a prevailing plaintiff
, such as:
Note that these "fee shifting" awards are a characteristic of the law enforced and do not necessarily depend upon the court in which they were brought; state courts can and do sometimes hear lawsuits brought under federal law. So if, for example, a person brings a civil rights action in state court and wins, he may be entitled to an award of attorney fees.
Most states have statutes under which attorneys' fees may be awarded to a prevailing plaintiff, such as an action on a contract where the contract contains a provision allowing recovery, or an action brought under consumer protection laws. Both plaintiffs and defendants are sometimes awarded attorneys fees in divorce and child custody actions, although this is an unusual circumstance, since such awards are made under the court's power to divide property or award alimony and child support.
A majority of states allow generally for an award to any party in a lawsuit, if another party has forced him to expend money on attorneys fees to defend against a claim utterly or substantially lacking any possible merit and brought in bad faith (frequently called "abusive litigation" or a "frivolous lawsuit"). For example, in the 'state of Georgia
, a trial court must award attorneys fees if a party has brought a claim "with respect to which there existed such a complete absence of any justiciable issue of law or fact that it could not be reasonably believed that a court would accept the asserted claim, defense, or other position";meanwhile, a trial court may, but is not required to, award attorney's fees if a party has made a claim "that lacked substantial justification or...was interposed for delay or harassment, or if [the opposing party] unnecessarily expanded the proceeding by other improper conduct...."
There are many ways of calculating prevailing-party attorney fees. Most courts recognize that actual costs may be disproportionate and inequitable. Thus, many jurisdiction
s rely on other calculations. Many courts or laws invoke a lodestar calculation: reasonably expected billable hours multiplied by a reasonable hourly rate, sometimes multiplied by a factor reflecting the risk or complexity of the case. Courts in class actions frequently award fees proportionate to the damages recovered. The Class Action Fairness Act of 2005
, which, among other provisions, regulates the fees that can be awarded in a class action, was passed in response to concerns that courts were not adequately overseeing the award of such fees.
The overriding principle in awarding attorney’s fees is reasonableness. Courts will often reduce attorney’s fee awards they find to be unreasonable and excessive. Common examples of unreasonable billing include; billing for overhead, overstaffing for uncomplicated tasks, rebilling recycled work product, and billing for improbably long days. In the private sector, many companies now use legal auditing
to determine whether their outside counsel is billing them for excessive legal fees.
proposals in the United States seek to further regulate attorney fees. Medical malpractice tort reforms often include maximum limits on plaintiffs' attorney fees, such as the percentage schedule in California's Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act
of 1975. In 2004, Florida
passed a constitutional amendment limiting contingent fees in medical malpractice
cases. Some object to these laws as an unfair restriction on freedom of contract
.
*The National Association of Legal Fee Analysis (NALFA)
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
term for compensation for legal services performed by an attorney
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
(lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
or law firm
Law firm
A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise clients about their legal rights and responsibilities, and to represent clients in civil or criminal cases, business transactions, and other...
) for a client, in or out of court. It may be an hourly, flat-rate or contingent fee. Attorney fees are separate from fines, compensatory and punitive damages, and (except in Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
) from court costs
Court costs
Court costs are the costs of handling a case, which, depending on legal rules, may or may not include the costs of the various parties in a lawsuit in addition to the costs of the court itself. Court costs can reach very high amounts, often far beyond the actual monetary worth of a case...
in a legal case. Surveys suggest that fees range from $150 to $1000 per hour when billed hourly. Under "the American rule
American rule
"American rule" may refer to one of several concepts in law, in contrast to the English rule:* The American rule for successive assignments of rights* The American rule for attorney's fees...
" attorney fees are usually not paid by the losing party to the winning party in a case, except at the federal level or for specific statutory
Statute
A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs a state, city, or county. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. The word is often used to distinguish law made by legislative bodies from case law, decided by courts, and regulations...
reasons.
Overview
The phrase is a legal term of art in American jurisprudence (in which lawyers are collectively referred to as "attorneys", a wording practice not found in most other legal systems). Attorney's fees (or attorneys' fees, depending upon number of attorneys involved, or simplified to attorney fees) are the fees, including labor charges and costs, charged by lawyers or their firms for legal services provided by them to their clients. They do not include incidental, non-legal costs (e.g. expedited shipping costs for legal documents). Generally (NevadaNevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
being an exception), attorney fees are tabulated separately from court costs
Court costs
Court costs are the costs of handling a case, which, depending on legal rules, may or may not include the costs of the various parties in a lawsuit in addition to the costs of the court itself. Court costs can reach very high amounts, often far beyond the actual monetary worth of a case...
, and are also separate from fines, compensatory and punitive damages, and other monies in a legal case not enumerated as court costs.
The analogous concept has differing names and applicability in common law
Common law
Common law is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals rather than through legislative statutes or executive branch action...
systems such as in most of the Commonwealth of Nations
Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...
, and in civil law
Civil law (legal system)
Civil law is a legal system inspired by Roman law and whose primary feature is that laws are codified into collections, as compared to common law systems that gives great precedential weight to common law on the principle that it is unfair to treat similar facts differently on different...
systems such as those of most of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and many former European colonies. For example, in a court case under English law
English law
English law is the legal system of England and Wales, and is the basis of common law legal systems used in most Commonwealth countries and the United States except Louisiana...
, the fees of solicitors and barristers (two types of lawyer) are combined with court costs and various other expenses into a combined "costs", while non-court solicitor expenses may be separately billed as per-hour charges and those of barristers as daily brief fees. The losing party in a case in most common law systems pays for the costs (including fees) of both parties.
State law
State law
In the United States, state law is the law of each separate U.S. state, as passed by the state legislature and adjudicated by state courts. It exists in parallel, and sometimes in conflict with, United States federal law. These disputes are often resolved by the federal courts.-See also:*List of U.S...
s or bar association
Bar association
A bar association is a professional body of lawyers. Some bar associations are responsible for the regulation of the legal profession in their jurisdiction; others are professional organizations dedicated to serving their members; in many cases, they are both...
regulations, many of which are based on Rule 1.5 of the American Bar Association
American Bar Association
The American Bar Association , founded August 21, 1878, is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. The ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of academic standards for law schools, and the formulation...
's Rules of Professional Conduct, govern the terms under which lawyers can accept fees. Many complaints to ethics boards regarding attorneys revolve around excessive attorney's fees.
In some American jurisdiction
Jurisdiction
Jurisdiction is the practical authority granted to a formally constituted legal body or to a political leader to deal with and make pronouncements on legal matters and, by implication, to administer justice within a defined area of responsibility...
s, a lawyer for the plaintiff
Plaintiff
A plaintiff , also known as a claimant or complainant, is the term used in some jurisdictions for the party who initiates a lawsuit before a court...
in a civil
Civil law (common law)
Civil law, as opposed to criminal law, is the branch of law dealing with disputes between individuals or organizations, in which compensation may be awarded to the victim...
case can take a case on a contingent fee basis. A contingent fee is a percentage of the monetary judgment or settlement. The contingent fee may be split among several firms who have contractual arrangements amongst themselves for referrals or other assistance. Where a plaintiff loses, the attorney may not receive any money for his or her work.
The contingent fee has been described as the ‘poor man’s key to the courthouse." Whereas, corporations or wealthy individuals can afford to hire attorneys to pursue their legal interests, the contingency fee affords any injury victim the opportunity, regardless of ability to pay, to hire the best attorney in his or her field. Most jurisdictions in the United States prohibit working for a contingent fee in family law
Family law
Family law is an area of the law that deals with family-related issues and domestic relations including:*the nature of marriage, civil unions, and domestic partnerships;...
or criminal
Crime
Crime is the breach of rules or laws for which some governing authority can ultimately prescribe a conviction...
cases.
In the United States, an up-front fee paid to a lawyer is called a retainer
Retainer agreement
A retainer agreement is a work for hire contract. It falls between a one-time contract and full-time employment. Its distinguishing feature is that the employer pays in advance for work to be specified later...
. Money within the retainer is often used to "buy" a certain amount of work. Some contracts provide that when the money from the retainer is gone, the fee is renegotiated. This is to be differentiated between a retainer in Commonwealth states, where a retainer is the contract that is initially signed by a client to engage a lawyer. Money may or may not be paid upfront, but the lawyer is still "retained".
Amount of fees
The range of fees charged by lawyers varies widely from one city to the next. Most large law firmLaw firm
A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise clients about their legal rights and responsibilities, and to represent clients in civil or criminal cases, business transactions, and other...
s in the United States bill between $
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
200 and $1,000 per hour for their lawyers' time, though fees charged by smaller firms are much lower. The rate varies tremendously by location as well as the specific area of law practiced. Typically insurance defense firms have lower hourly rates than non-insurance firms, but are compensated by having steady, regular paying work provided. Locations like Salt Lake City will average $150 per hour for an associate's time on a basic case, but will increase for larger firms.
Many surveys of hourly rates are done. The American Intellectual Property Law Association
American Intellectual Property Law Association
The American Intellectual Property Law Association is a national bar association that was formed in 1897 to improve intellectual property laws and educate the public about such issues....
("AIPLA") commissions a survey of its members every 2 years and it publishes these in what it calls a "Report of the Economic Survey". The latest one is dated June 2007. Rates are collected for 14 geographic areas and by associate or partner. Many courts have followed the rates shown by these AIPLA surveys and they are highly-regarded for Intellectual Property litigation.
The State Bar of Oregon and the Colorado State Bar also have published a survey of rates for various areas of Oregon and Colorado and these are available online.
Perhaps the most widely followed set of rates are what is called the Laffey Matrix
Laffey Matrix
The Laffey Matrix is a fee schedule used by many United States courts for determining the proper hourly rates for professional legal work. -Overview:...
that is available from the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia. These have been available since 1982 and are updated each year. The hourly rates are shown by years of experience. For June 1, 2006 to May 31, 2007 the rates are as follows: 20+ years of experience, $425 per hour; 11–19 years, $375; 8–10 years, $305; 4–7 years, $245; 1–3 years, $205; and Paralegals/law clerks $120 http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/dc/Divisions/Civil_Division/Laffey_Matrix_6.html. The Laffey Matrix appears to be growing in acceptance by many courts throughout the United States, but the matrix must be adjusted to account for higher or lower costs for legal services in other areas.
Hourly rates are increasing almost every year and some lawyers charge substantially higher than the rates shown by the Laffey Matrix. The first American attorney to regularly charge a four-digit hourly fee ($1000 and higher) was Benjamin Civiletti
Benjamin Civiletti
Benjamin Richard Civiletti served as the United States Attorney General during the last year and a half of the Carter administration, from 1979 to 1981. He is now a senior partner in the Washington, D.C., law firm of Venable LLP, specializing in commercial litigation and internal investigations,...
in late 2005.
With the ongoing recession of the 2000s, corporate clients began driving attorneys increasingly toward alternative fee arrangements
Alternative fee arrangements
Alternative fee arrangements , in the practice of law, occur when payments to a law firm are based on a method other than billable hours....
, or AFAs. AFAs can include flat fees (per matter), fixed fees (for a "book" of matters), success bonuses, and other options beyond straight hourly billing.
Which party pays
Most countries operate under a "loser pays" system, sometimes called the English rule (in English law it is described as "costs following the event"). Under the English rule, the losing party pays the successful party's legal costs, as well as other court costs. The United States is a notable exception (except at the Federal level), operating under the American rule, whereby each party bears its own legal expenses. Some tort reformTort reform
Tort reform refers to proposed changes in common law civil justice systems that would reduce tort litigation or damages. Tort actions are civil common law claims first created in the English commonwealth system as a non-legislative means for compensating wrongs and harm done by one party to...
advocates propose adopting a "loser pays" rule in the United States. Federal district court and Court of Appeals
United States court of appeals
The United States courts of appeals are the intermediate appellate courts of the United States federal court system...
judges award costs to the prevailing party under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure govern civil procedure in United States district courts. The FRCP are promulgated by the United States Supreme Court pursuant to the Rules Enabling Act, and then the United States Congress has 7 months to veto the rules promulgated or they become part of the...
54.
In some jurisdictions, statutes may permit judge
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
s and juries
Jury
A jury is a sworn body of people convened to render an impartial verdict officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Modern juries tend to be found in courts to ascertain the guilt, or lack thereof, in a crime. In Anglophone jurisdictions, the verdict may be guilty,...
to independently impose "loser pays"; for example, a judge may say: "I am ruling for the plaintiff on the amount of $[sum] plus all court costs and attorney fees." But generally, state court judges have no common law authority to award such fees against the losing party. Some settlement agreements
Settlement (law)
In law, a settlement is a resolution between disputing parties about a legal case, reached either before or after court action begins. The term "settlement" also has other meanings in the context of law.-Basis:...
, arbitration
Arbitration
Arbitration, a form of alternative dispute resolution , is a legal technique for the resolution of disputes outside the courts, where the parties to a dispute refer it to one or more persons , by whose decision they agree to be bound...
agreements and other extra-judicial contract
Contract
A contract is an agreement entered into by two parties or more with the intention of creating a legal obligation, which may have elements in writing. Contracts can be made orally. The remedy for breach of contract can be "damages" or compensation of money. In equity, the remedy can be specific...
s may also stipulate a loser-pays arrangement.
A number of federal laws provide for an award of attorney fees for a prevailing plaintiff
Plaintiff
A plaintiff , also known as a claimant or complainant, is the term used in some jurisdictions for the party who initiates a lawsuit before a court...
, such as:
- Class actionClass actionIn law, a class action, a class suit, or a representative action is a form of lawsuit in which a large group of people collectively bring a claim to court and/or in which a class of defendants is being sued...
s - Civil rightsCivil rightsCivil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
violations, see Civil Rights Attorney's Fees Award Act of 1976Civil Rights Attorney's Fees Award Act of 1976The Civil Rights Attorney's Fees Award Act of 1976 is a law of the United States. It is often referred to as "Section 1988". It allows a Federal court to award reasonable attorneys' fees to a prevailing party in certain civil rights cases.... - Freedom of Information Act violations
- CopyrightCopyrightCopyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
and patentPatentA patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
cases - AntitrustAntitrustThe United States antitrust law is a body of laws that prohibits anti-competitive behavior and unfair business practices. Antitrust laws are intended to encourage competition in the marketplace. These competition laws make illegal certain practices deemed to hurt businesses or consumers or both,...
actions - Lemon law cases
- Suits against the federal government where the position of the government was not "substantially justified"
Note that these "fee shifting" awards are a characteristic of the law enforced and do not necessarily depend upon the court in which they were brought; state courts can and do sometimes hear lawsuits brought under federal law. So if, for example, a person brings a civil rights action in state court and wins, he may be entitled to an award of attorney fees.
Most states have statutes under which attorneys' fees may be awarded to a prevailing plaintiff, such as an action on a contract where the contract contains a provision allowing recovery, or an action brought under consumer protection laws. Both plaintiffs and defendants are sometimes awarded attorneys fees in divorce and child custody actions, although this is an unusual circumstance, since such awards are made under the court's power to divide property or award alimony and child support.
A majority of states allow generally for an award to any party in a lawsuit, if another party has forced him to expend money on attorneys fees to defend against a claim utterly or substantially lacking any possible merit and brought in bad faith (frequently called "abusive litigation" or a "frivolous lawsuit"). For example, in the 'state of Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
, a trial court must award attorneys fees if a party has brought a claim "with respect to which there existed such a complete absence of any justiciable issue of law or fact that it could not be reasonably believed that a court would accept the asserted claim, defense, or other position";meanwhile, a trial court may, but is not required to, award attorney's fees if a party has made a claim "that lacked substantial justification or...was interposed for delay or harassment, or if [the opposing party] unnecessarily expanded the proceeding by other improper conduct...."
There are many ways of calculating prevailing-party attorney fees. Most courts recognize that actual costs may be disproportionate and inequitable. Thus, many jurisdiction
Jurisdiction
Jurisdiction is the practical authority granted to a formally constituted legal body or to a political leader to deal with and make pronouncements on legal matters and, by implication, to administer justice within a defined area of responsibility...
s rely on other calculations. Many courts or laws invoke a lodestar calculation: reasonably expected billable hours multiplied by a reasonable hourly rate, sometimes multiplied by a factor reflecting the risk or complexity of the case. Courts in class actions frequently award fees proportionate to the damages recovered. The Class Action Fairness Act of 2005
Class Action Fairness Act of 2005
The U.S. Class Action Fairness Act of 2005, 28 U.S.C. Sections 1332, 1453, and 1711–1715, expanded federal jurisdiction over many large class-action lawsuits and mass actions taken in the United States....
, which, among other provisions, regulates the fees that can be awarded in a class action, was passed in response to concerns that courts were not adequately overseeing the award of such fees.
The overriding principle in awarding attorney’s fees is reasonableness. Courts will often reduce attorney’s fee awards they find to be unreasonable and excessive. Common examples of unreasonable billing include; billing for overhead, overstaffing for uncomplicated tasks, rebilling recycled work product, and billing for improbably long days. In the private sector, many companies now use legal auditing
Legal auditing
According to the National Association of Legal Auditing , legal auditing is a litigation management practice and risk management tool, used by insurance and other consumers of legal services, to determine if hourly billing errors, abuses, and inefficiencies exist by carefully examining and...
to determine whether their outside counsel is billing them for excessive legal fees.
Tort reform and attorney fees
Some tort reformTort reform
Tort reform refers to proposed changes in common law civil justice systems that would reduce tort litigation or damages. Tort actions are civil common law claims first created in the English commonwealth system as a non-legislative means for compensating wrongs and harm done by one party to...
proposals in the United States seek to further regulate attorney fees. Medical malpractice tort reforms often include maximum limits on plaintiffs' attorney fees, such as the percentage schedule in California's Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act
Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act
The Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act of 1975 was a statute enacted by the California Legislature in August 1975 which was intended to lower medical malpractice liability insurance premiums for healthcare providers in that state by decreasing their potential tort liability...
of 1975. In 2004, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
passed a constitutional amendment limiting contingent fees in medical malpractice
Medical malpractice
Medical malpractice is professional negligence by act or omission by a health care provider in which the treatment provided falls below the accepted standard of practice in the medical community and causes injury or death to the patient, with most cases involving medical error. Standards and...
cases. Some object to these laws as an unfair restriction on freedom of contract
Freedom of contract
Freedom of contract is the freedom of individuals and corporations to form contracts without government restrictions. This is opposed to government restrictions such as minimum wage, competition law, or price fixing...
.
External links
- The Colorado Bar Association 2000 Economic Survey link broken
- MEDICAL MALPRACTICE—ATTORNEYS’ FEES 2003-R-0664 By: George Coppolo, Chief Attorney
*The National Association of Legal Fee Analysis (NALFA)