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Judges Scrutinize Attorney Fee Applications

August 9, 2010 | Posted in : Billing Practices, Fee Award, Fee Reduction, Fee Request, Hourly Rates, Litigation Management

A recent story by Finance and Commerce, “Judges Closely Scrutinizing Legal Fees” reports that Federal Magistrate Judge Raymond Erickson’s recent decision to slash an attorney’s bill in half – even though the bill was for a relatively modest amount – shows how closely some judges are scrutinizing fee applications.  The plaintiff’s counsel in Hart Security v. Number One Health brought a motion before the judge seeking to enforce the settlement agreement between the parties and requesting an award of $2,520 in attorney fees for having to bring the motion.  The defendant did not object to the fee request.  Erickson approved of the $300 hourly rate, but did not agree that it should have take 8.4 hours and knocked it down to four hours.

Attorneys say it underscores the need to be explicit in describing the work they performed, both in their billing statements to clients and in their fee petitions to the court.  “If you know you have a chance of getting attorney fees, by statute or by contract, from day one you have to start keeping good records,” says Minneapolis Barbara Berens, who handles cases in federal and state court.  Berens added that if the time spent on research looks extensive at first blush, clarify in an affidavit accompanying the fee petition why it’s merited.