Practice Areas
Our network of qualified fee experts are retained by some of the nation’s top law firms and insurance carriers 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 practice areas:
NALFA’s Attorney Fee Practice:
Court Awarded Attorney Fees
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 to support or challenge attorney fee awards in court. 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.
Tripartite Fee Disputes
Attorney fee and billing disputes often arise out of the tripartite relationship, where you have a third-party payor (i.e. insurance carrier). In fact, the question, “who pays the legal bills?” is often a source of litigation.
Our fee and billing experts work with both law firms and insurance carriers. Our attorney fee experts are retained by defense counsel to defend their rates and billing practices in order to recover their fees. Our legal billing experts are often hired by insurance carriers to establish systems and programs to better manage defense fees and costs.
Attorney Fee Litigation
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 stake 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 a broad range of factors that affect reasonable attorney fees and proper billing practices.
Mediate/Arbitrate High-Stakes Attorney Fee Disputes
Attorney fee disputes are often a result of a break down in the attorney-client relationship. Mediation or arbitration is the quickest, simplest, and most cost effective way to resolve a high-stakes attorney fee dispute.
Our fee experts are uniquely qualified to resolve large, complex 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.