E.D. New York cuts commercial fee award 5%, including for clerical work

What happened

Parker Pohl LLP sought $44,652.50 in fees and costs as sanctions, covering 94.52 hours. The court awarded $42,414.01, a reduction of $2,238.49 or 5.0%. It found several entries billed partner Pohl for tasks better suited to a junior associate or paralegal, and one entry, analyze options re counterclaim, too vague to show the task. Finding few unreasonable entries, the court applied a 5.0% reduction to the hours sought.

What the court said

The Court finds that several of the time entries reflect that tasks were performed by Pohl, a partner, that would have been more appropriately performed by a junior associate or a paralegal

The time entry in question reads “analyze options re counterclaim,” and charges for 15 minutes of time expended... This entry does not make clear what task was being performed, and thus is impermissibly vague.

The court also reduced the award for: other.

Why it matters

The ruling shows courts examine who performed each task and whether entries describe the work with enough specificity. Even a small number of entries can draw a percentage cut across all billed hours, so the description and staffing of each time entry affect the final award.

How to keep this out of your fee petition

• Leave purely clerical work off the fee petition.
• Describe paralegal tasks so the substantive work is clear.
• Split mixed entries into their substantive and clerical parts.

Cite this ruling

See hourly rates the E.D. New York approves and attorney fee motions in New York federal courts.

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