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The Ethics of Outside Legal Fee Analysis:
Dedicated to Founding Member Bruce R. Meckler (1955-2016)

Legal fee analysis is the comprehensive review and analysis of attorney fees and costs by an outside party in a legal matter. Professionals who routinely perform outside or third-party legal fee analysis include attorney fee experts, special masters, bankruptcy fee examiners, fee dispute neutrals, and legal bill auditors.

The following ten best practice measures were developed over several years with input and consensus from thought leaders (members and non-members) from across the legal fee analysis professional community. These best practice measures promote values such as ethics, independence, and professional development.

Adopted in 2012, these peer review driven standards help strengthen the legal fee analysis field by ensuring integrity in the process and reliability in the results. These best practice measures are the generally accepted standards within the legal fee analysis professional community.

All our members (i.e. qualified attorney fee experts, special masters, bankruptcy fee examiners, fee dispute neutrals, and legal bill auditors) are signatories to the following ethics for outside or post-bill legal fee analysis:

1.00   Adhere to the proper standard of reasonableness in fee analysis.

2.00   Observe a consistent and reliable methodology in fee analysis.

3.00   Keep updated on the latest fee and billing jurisprudence (i.e. the body of law, key court rulings, bar advisories, etc.) on reasonable attorney fees and expenses.

4.00   Keep updated on the latest fee and billing scholarship (i.e. empirical papers, studies, surveys, reports, etc.) on reasonable attorney fees and expenses.

5.00   Participate in professional development and CLE programs on litigation management, attorney fees, and legal billing topics.

6.00   Do not advertise false or intentionally misleading information or offer any guarantee of outcome in fee analysis.

7.00   Do not charge fee analysis work on a contingency basis (i.e. based on the fee analysis results obtained).

8.00   Do not accept a fee or billing case or client where there is an inherent conflict of interest.

9.00   Keep all fee, billing, rate, and work product information in the strictest of confidence.

10.00   Employ data science and technology in your fee analysis work.