Business Development

Lawyer is censured over $71K legal bill that included $30K in interest

The Wyoming Supreme Court has publicly censured a Cheyenne lawyer who charged a client $30,000 in finance charges on an unpaid legal bill of $41,000. The court adopted a report by the state bar’s Board of Professional Responsibility and censured (PDF) lawyer Bruce Asay on May 11 in connection with…

May 18, 2016 6:15 AM CDT

Coffeemaker win lacks perk for lawyer who asked for $180K in fees but got $6,800

Plaintiff Pamella Montgomery still gets the $250 settlement she was promised after a more than two-year legal battle with Kraft Foods Global Inc. and Starbucks Corp. over her purchase of a single-serve coffee maker. But the Michigan woman’s lawyer is receiving $6,800 in attorney fees and costs rather than the…

May 16, 2016 5:02 PM CDT

Top hourly rates for some BigLaw partners have reached $2K, survey finds

“More than a handful” of U.S. companies are now paying a top hourly rate of $2,000 to partners at BigLaw firms, a survey says. Results released Wednesday by BTI Consulting Group show that billable rates for some elite lawyers reached this benchmark last year, reports the Am Law Daily (sub.…

May 13, 2016 10:55 AM CDT

9th Circuit removes judge who slashed attorney fees from BarBri antitrust class action

A trial judge cannot simply cut by 70 percent the requested $1.9 million attorney fee award in a winning antitrust class action without providing a detailed explanation why he did so, a federal appeals court has ruled. A Wednesday opinion (PDF) by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of…

May 12, 2016 2:00 PM CDT

Municipalities find new funding source by filing class-action suits

A growing number of municipalities throughout the country have found an innovative way to add to their bottom lines—joining class-action suits on a contingency-fee basis. Providence, Rhode Island, has filed 15 securities cases against banks and corporations as an institutional investor since 2011, reports the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.).…

May 3, 2016 9:25 AM CDT

Top Florida court strikes state statute that paid worker’s comp lawyer $1.53 per hour

The Florida Supreme Court has struck, as unconstitutional a mandatory fee schedule set by a 2009 state law that limits the attorney’s fees that can be paid to lawyers in worker’s compensation cases. In the case at bar, due to a sliding scale that sets attorney’s fees based on the…

Apr 28, 2016 4:45 PM CDT

Lawyer now says he won’t pursue $252.25 demand for missing soup at lunch

A Texas lawyer has backed down after demanding $252.25 from a Mansfield diner because his lunch special came without a cup of soup. If he had it to do over again, attorney Dwain Downing told WFAA on Monday, he wouldn’t have written the letter he sent to Our Place Restaurant…

Apr 26, 2016 3:55 PM CDT

Lawyer accused of surreptitiously buying client’s property is hired as city attorney

A Montana lawyer has been hired as city attorney despite a pending ethics complaint involving his efforts to collect an attorney fee from a divorce client. The city of Libby, Montana, hired Kalispell lawyer David G. Tennant on Monday, the Associated Press reports. In an ethics complaint filed last Friday,…

Apr 21, 2016 7:35 AM CDT

When can two lawyers from different firms divide a fee in a referral arrangement?

ABA Formal Ethics Opinion 474 (PDF) from the ABA’s Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility addresses the propriety of referral fees, explains that clients must consent to such arrangements, and also provides examples of when a lawyer does or does not have a conflict of interest. Under ABA Model…

Apr 21, 2016 7:30 AM CDT

Get rid of the billable hour—but then what?

The billable hour is not the immediate cause of all that ails the legal industry. Freedom from the tyranny of the billable hour would be a fine start. But there is much more to do and discuss. For proof, look no further than law departments. Many corporate law departments suffer…

Apr 7, 2016 8:30 AM CDT

Retailer must make website accessible to visually impaired and pay plaintiff legal fees, judge rules

In what a lawyer for the plaintiff is calling a landmark decision, a California judge has ordered a luggage retailer to make its website accessible to those who are visually impaired. Bag’n Baggage must also pay $4,000 plus attorney’s fees for plaintiff Edward Davis, which are expected to top $100,000,…

Mar 25, 2016 4:20 PM CDT

Ex-DLA Piper partner caught in ‘churn that bill, baby!’ crossfire sues firm’s counsel

It’s been years since a litigated billing dispute between DLA Piper and a former client brought an embarrassing “churn that bill, baby!” comment in an internal law firm email to light. Although DLA Piper said the email was an offensive attempt at humor, the firm emphasized that there was, in…

Mar 24, 2016 12:15 PM CDT

Law firm can’t sue SSA for attorney fees paid to clients, 2nd Circuit says

Sovereign immunity protects the Social Security Administration in a lawsuit by Binder & Binder for attorney fees paid to two clients who later declared bankruptcy, according to a federal appeals court. The agency did not waive sovereign immunity, despite statutory duties to withhold attorney fees from payments to successful claimants,…

Mar 23, 2016 8:28 AM CDT

With latest $22K sanction, attorney’s total for case tops $166K

A Chicago lawyer was ordered to pay $22,864 to a litigation opponent last week for pursuing a frivolous appeal. The sanction was not the first regarding attorney Dennis James Stolfo’s handling of a retaliatory discharge and defamation suit against Kindercare Learning Centers Inc. Including the latest $22,864, Stolfo has been…

Mar 21, 2016 1:55 PM CDT

Mayor says law firm overcharged $657K in 11-year case, threatens criminal investigation

The mayor and a new inspector general for a suburban Chicago city are contending that a law firm overcharged by more than $656,000 during a hard-fought 11-year eminent domain case over a 356-unit housing project. Originally charged at $210 to $250 per billable hour when the matter began in 2005,…

Mar 21, 2016 10:40 AM CDT