According to recent reports by the Associated Press, Republican Governor of Alabama Bob Riley has signed an executive order limiting attorney fees in lawsuits filed by the Alabama Attorney General over the massive BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.  According to the Executive Order (PDF), the Governor’s office must approve any legal contract greater than $195 per hour or contingency fee agreement.

“Ultimately, a cap on attorney fees will hurt the victims of the BP oil spill,” says Aashish Y. Desai of Mower Carreon & Desai, LLP in Irvine, CA.  “You’re not going to get the best qualified attorneys to work on this very important litigation and in the end those whose lives have been devastated by the oil spill will suffer,” Desai adds.

NALFA opposes caps on attorney fees. “Judges should ultimately determine reasonable attorney fees, not politicians,” says Terry Jesse, Executive Director of NALFA in Chicago.  “Attorneys, like other professionals work in our free market economy.  Their hourly rates and contingency fee agreements are subject to the same marketplace conditions that exist for any other profession.  If attorney rates are too high or terms of the fee agreement too much, clients will go elsewhere.  Plus, generally speaking, caps on attorney fees only apply to plaintiffs’ attorneys, thus discriminating against those who bring our nation’s most important public interest cases,” Jesse adds.