NALFA'S ATTORNEY FEE EXPERTS ENJOY SUCCESS IN COURT
In large, complex attorney fee disputes, clients often turn to a qualified attorney fee expert. NALFA members 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. NALFA members have enjoyed success in the court. Here are three examples:
Attorney fee expert and NALFA member Brand Cooper of Cooper & Bruning, LLP identified nearly $2 million in unreasonable attorney fees and costs for non-prevailing defendants. The California court agreed with Cooper’s analysis and cited his expert report and opinions several times in its ruling: “Cooper calculated that 2,798.7 hours of the total 4,937.6 hours in the case were ‘block billing’. That is nearly 57% of the time entries. The court will apply an across-the-board 15% reduction in requested fees (after other deductions) based on this impediment to the reasonableness review.”
Attorney fee expert and NALFA member Ken Moscaret of Moscaret Consulting, Inc. successfully testified to a Los Angeles Superior Court judge that over $9 million in fees and costs was reasonable compensation for a major Los Angeles law firm involved in handling a large, complex underlying litigation. Among his expert opinions, Mr. Moscaret emphasized that there was a rational cost-benefit relationship between the economic value at stake in the underlying litigation versus the legal fees expended.
Attorney fee expert and NALFA member Bruce Meckler of Meckler Bulger Tilson Marick & Pearson, LLP testified (by sworn statement) regarding the reasonableness of legal fees and expenses incurred by Freeborn & Peters, LLP counsel for Brown & Brown, Inc., in Brown & Brown, Inc. v. M.Munawar Ali, Case No. 07 C 2893 in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division. In rendering its decision on the reasonableness of legal fees incurred, the Court substantially adopted Mr. Meckler’s opinions.