About Us

imageAbout Us

As a professional association under section 501(c)(6) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code, NALFA acts as the governing body and certifying agency for the attorney fee and legal billing profession.  As a 501(c)(6) organization, NALFA devotes itself to advancing the lines of business and the professional interests of the attorney fee and legal billing professional community. 

Our standard for analyzing and evaluating attorney fees is reasonableness.  Members of our Attorney Fee Practice Group observe proven methodologies and adhere to the proper standard of reasonableness.  Our mission is to help ensure quality and reliability throughout the attorney fee and legal billing profession.

NALFA has been cited as the industry source for attorney fee and legal billing matters by Thomson Reuters News and The Wall Street Journal.

FAQ’s

 What is the attorney fee practice area?

The attorney fee practice is a new and growing practice area within the legal profession.  The attorney fee practice is a highly specialized, niche practice area that covers a range of underlying cases where attorney fees are at issue.  The attorney fee practice includes 4 areas of concentration: court awarded attorney fees, attorney fees in insurance coverage litigation, attorney fee dispute litigation, and mediating and/or arbitrating attorney fee disputes.  CLICK HERE to learn more about the attorney fee practice.


What is the Attorney Fee Practice Group?

The Attorney Fee Practice Group is a first-of-its-kind practice group specifically devoted to attorney fee issues.  Members of the Attorney Fee Practice Group are qualified attorney fee experts, fee dispute arbitrators, and legal bill auditors who are retained by law firms and appointed courts when attorney fees and/or legal billings are at issue.


What is the difference between attorney fee experts and legal bill auditors?

Attorney fee experts provide expert opinion on the reasonableness of attorney fees.  Legal bill auditors provide a breakdown (i.e. tables, charts, summaries) of legal tasks performed in legal invoices.


When should I retain an attorney fee expert?

Generally, it is considered a litigation best practice to retain a fee expert on multi-million dollar attorney fee requests.  On routine fee matters, of less than $1 million, fee-seeking attorneys can serve as their own fee experts.  But on large scale attorney fee and legal billing matters, you should retain an a fee expert early in the process.  The work required to provide a meaningful review and in-depth analysis may take several weeks. 


Why should I retain a NALFA fee expert?

As fact-finders, judges have relied on, and often cite our fee experts favorably in their rulings.  NALFA fee experts can provide a fee-seeking attorney or fee-challenging attorney with the Rule 26 expert report required to succeed in court.


What type of reports and opinions can your attorney fee experts provide?

Our fee experts provide court-qualifying expert reports, opinions, and testimony on, among other things:

  1. Reasonable, Prevailing Hourly Rates 
  2. Reasonableness of Hours Billed
  3. Customary Law Firm Billing Practices
  4. Billing Judgment
  5. Amount at Stake in the Underlying Case vs. Amount of Legal Fees Spent
  6. Novel, Complex, or Unusual Legal Issues in the Underlying Case
  7. Successful Results Obtained for the Client
  8. Skill, Experience, and Reputation of the Law Firm
  9. Efficient Litigation Management Practices


How will NALFA assist me in finding the right fee expert for my case?

NALFA provides a step-by-step and case-specific approach to finding the right fee expert.  First, we gather background information on nature of the attorney fees at issue.  Second, we search our database to find the right fee expert most favorable for your case and within the right price range.  Next, we arrange a conference call with the fee expert so you can discuss your case in further detail.


How does NALFA assist courts with large, complex fee disputes?

NALFA provides courts with our qualified fee expert's biographical background, including CV, biography, case summaries, and contact information upon request.  Our fee experts are appointed as Special Masters to assist courts by providing an independent and objective analysis regardinging the measureable variables of reasonable attorney fees.


How have courts responded to NALFA fee experts?

Some of our fee expert's courtroom successes include:

Attorney fee expert and NALFA member Brand Cooper identified nearly $2 million in unreasonable attorney fees and costs for non-prevailing defendants.  The California court agreed with Cooper’s analysis and cited his expert report and opinions several times in its ruling: “Cooper calculated that 2,798.7 hrs of the total 4,937.6 hours in the case were ‘block billing’.  That is nearly 57% of the time entries.  The court will apply an across-the-board 15% reduction in requested fees (after other deductions) based on this impediment to the reasonableness review.”

Attorney fee expert and NALFA member Ken Moscaret successfully testified to a Los Angeles Superior Court judge that over $9 million in fees and costs was reasonable compensation for a major Los Angeles law firm involved in handling a large, complex underlying litigation.  Among his expert opinions, Mr. Moscaret emphasized that there was a rational cost-benefit relationship between the economic value at stake in the underlying litigation verus the legal fees expended.

Attorney fee expert and NALFA member Bruce Meckler testified (by sworn statement) regarding the reasonableness of legal fees and expenses incurred by Freeborn & Peters, LLP counsel for Brown & Brown, Inc., in Brown & Brown, Inc. v. M. Munawar Ali, Case No. 07 C 2893 in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division.  In rendering its decision on the reasonableness of the legal fees incurred, the Court substantially adopted Mr. Meckler’s opinions.