Attorney Fee Practice Area
Members of our Attorney Fee Practice Group are retained by some of the nation’s top law firms to provide expert reports and opinions on the reasonableness of attorney fees in high-stakes attorney fee disputes. Our fee experts are retained in 4 key areas where attorney fees are at issue:
Supporting or Challenging Attorney Fee Requests
In many areas of litigation (i.e. ERISA, intellectual property, class action) attorney fees and expenses are awarded by the court. Most of these cases are the result of “loser pays” fee-shifting provisions. Fee-shifting provisions are becoming increasingly common in state and federal statutes as well as in contractual agreements.
Our fee experts are retained by attorneys to support or challenge attorney fee requests. Our fee experts work with both prevailing and non-prevailing parties. Our fee experts provide expert reports and opinions so prevailing attorneys can recover their fees. Our fee experts are also retained by non-prevailing parties to challenge prevailing party fees and expenses.
Attorney Fees in Insurance Coverage Litigation
Attorney fee and billing disputes often arise out of the insurance tripartite relationship, where you have a third-party payer (i.e. insurance carrier). In fact, the question, “who pays the legal bills?” is often a source of litigation.
Our fee experts work both with both policyholder law firms and insurance defense firms. Our attorney fee experts are retained by both sides to defend billing rates and billing practices in insurance recovery cases. In addition, some of our fee experts are hired by insurance carriers to establish systems and programs to better manage defense fees and costs.
Attorney Fee Litigation
In legal malpractice claims, attorney fee litigation occurs when a law firm sues a former client to collect unpaid legal fees or when a former client sues a law firm for overbilling. Given the expense of litigation, the attorney fees at issue are usually millions of dollars.
Our attorney fee experts are retained to testify for and against law firms on the reasonableness and necessity of their fees and billing practices. Our fee experts provide expert reports, opinions, and testimony on the range of factors that determine reasonable attorney fees and proper billing practices.
Mediate/Arbitrate Attorney Fee Disputes
Attorney fee disputes are often a result of a breakdown in the attorney-client relationship. Mediation or arbitration is the quickest, simplest, and most cost effective way to resolve large, complex attorney fee disputes.
Our fee dispute arbitrators are uniquely qualified to resolve high-stakes attorney fee disputes through a private arbitration or mediation process. Our fee experts have the skills and experience to sit down with both parties and settle a high-stakes fee dispute in a cost effective and confidential manner.