A recent BLT Blog post, “Los Angeles Lawyer Demands Cut of Cobell Attorney Fees” reports that a solo practitioner in Los Angeles is objecting to the attorney fee petition filed in the high-profile Native American trust case in Washington, saying the plaintiffs’ attorneys cut him out of the demand for compensation.  The lawyer, Mark Brown, filed a notice on Jan. 31 announcing his plan to object to the plaintiffs’ fee petition pending in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.  The fee petition says class counsel should receive at least $223 million in compensation for their work over 15 years of litigation.

Brown said in court papers he is “entitled to a share of any attorney fee award for his work on this case since 2000 as counsel for plaintiffs.”  Brown’s notice to the court did not specify an amount he claims he is owed.  In response to Brown’s notice, Cobell’s attorneys, including Washington solo Dennis Gingold and Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton partner Keith Harper, said in court papers that Brown “incorrectly describes his limited role in these proceedings.”  Brown, Cobell’s lawyers said, has not provided class counsel his time and charges.  Brown would not have been singled out in the fee petition because it seeks compensation collectively and not for any single lawyer.