A recent New York Law Journal story, “Judge Slashes Kramer Levin’s ‘Breathtaking’ Request for Fees,” reports that a federal judge has rejected a “breathtaking” $3.1 million fee request submitted by Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel, awarding the firm only a fraction of the money sough for winning a fight over a down payment on a luxury apartment co-operative. Southern District Judge William Pauley said he conducted a “mind-numbing review” of Kramer Levin’s billing records in Campbell v. Mark Hotel Sponsor (pdf), but declined “to recapitulate that review” in his opinion to “avoid undue embarrassment to a fine law firm like Kramer Levin” in his opinion.
Kramer Levin represented defendant Mark Hotel Sponsor LLP in the effort of Roberta Campbell to recover a $4.68 million down payment she made on an $18.75 million co-op apartment at the Mark Hotel on East 77th Street between Madison and Fifth avenues. Pauley conducted a bench trial and, on Aug 20, issued an opinion finding that the parties’ contract entitled Mark Hotel Sponsor to keep the down payment and recover its reasonable legal fees and expenses.
“Astonishingly, Kramer Levin attorneys, paralegals, and staff amassed 5,536.4 billable hours on this matter, employing four partners, three special counsel, ten associates, eight paralegals and a summer associate,” he said, with partners billing range of $680 per hour to $1025 per hour, associates from $440 per hour to $745 per hour, paralegals from $250 per hour to $295 per hour, and “last but not least,” a summer associate for $335 per hour. On Sept. 13, Pauley allowed only a total award of $475,000 in legal fees and expenses.
In the plaintiff’s memorandum in opposition of the fee request (pdf), while the matter involved a dispute over millions of dollars, Amos Alter called the case a “simple contact action.”