Court-approved attorney hourly rates: District Court, E.D. Texas

Copy these rulings as citations

Recent E.D. Texas rulings with the rates they approved, formatted for a fee petition. Check each ruling before citing it.

Rulings

Rates turn on experience, practice area, and the work done. Use these as a starting point and cite the rulings, not this page, in a fee petition.

• Gibson, Inc. v. Armadillo Distribution Enterprises, Inc. et al

  Oct 6, 2026 · Intellectual property

  Role	Experience	Requested	Approved
  Partner		$295	$295
  Associate		$275	$275
  Paralegal		$110	$110
  Paralegal		$200	$200
  Attorney		$375	$375

  The court's words

  Bates & Bates billed $295 per hour for partners, $275 per hour for associate attorneys, and $110 to 125 generally or $200 per hour for paralegals during trial

  Bates & Bates billed $295 per hour for partners, $275 per hour for associate attorneys, and $110 to 125 generally or $200 per hour for paralegals during trial

  Plaintiff's paralegals billed at $110 to 125 per hour generally and $200 per hour for trial.

  Plaintiff's paralegals billed at $110 to 125 per hour generally and $200 per hour for trial.

  The Law Office of Steve Howen billed $375 per hour for Stephen Howen (Dkt. #819 at pp. 16–17).

• Gibson, Inc. v. Armadillo Distribution Enterprises, Inc. et al

  Sep 25, 2026 · Intellectual property

  Role	Experience	Requested	Approved
  Partner		$295	$295
  Associate		$275	$275
  Paralegal		$110	$110
  Paralegal		$200	$200
  Attorney		$375	$375

  The court's words

  Bates & Bates billed $295 per hour for partners, $275 per hour for associate attorneys, and $110 to 125 generally or $200 per hour for paralegals during trial

  Bates & Bates billed $295 per hour for partners, $275 per hour for associate attorneys, and $110 to 125 generally or $200 per hour for paralegals during trial

  Bates & Bates billed $295 per hour for partners, $275 per hour for associate attorneys, and $110 to 125 generally or $200 per hour for paralegals during trial

  $110 to 125 generally or $200 per hour for paralegals during trial

  The Law Office of Steve Howen billed $375 per hour for Stephen Howen

• Spartan Composites LLC, et al., v. Signature Systems Group, LLC

  Aug 27, 2026 · Intellectual property

  Role	Experience	Requested	Approved
  Partner		$825	$825
  Associate		$550	$550
  Associate		$525	$525
  Paralegal		$315	$315

  The court's words

  Schwegmann charged a rate of $825.00 for 153.9 hours as managing partner

  Cox charged a rate of $550.00 for 1,293.7 hours as associate

  Ruiz charged a rate of $525.00 for 529.9 hours as associate

  Smoot charged a rate of $315.00 for 374.2 hours as paralegal

• Yu, et al., v. Highland Noodles, Inc., et al.

  Aug 14, 2026 · Wage and hour

  Role	Experience	Requested	Approved
  Attorney		$200	$200
  Attorney		$650	$650
  Paralegal		$125	$125
  Paralegal		$200	$200

  The court's words

  Plaintiffs’ counsel submitted fees ranging from $200 to $650 for attorney work and $125 to $200 for paralegal services (Dkt. #40-1 at p. 10).

  Plaintiffs’ counsel submitted fees ranging from $200 to $650 for attorney work and $125 to $200 for paralegal services (Dkt. #40-1 at p. 10).

  Plaintiffs’ counsel submitted fees ranging from $200 to $650 for attorney work and $125 to $200 for paralegal services (Dkt. #40-1 at p. 10).

  Plaintiffs’ counsel submitted fees ranging from $200 to $650 for attorney work and $125 to $200 for paralegal services (Dkt. #40-1 at p. 10).

• Bounds v. Baylor Regional Medical Center at Plano

  Aug 10, 2026 · Employment · Fee cut details

  Role	Experience	Requested	Approved
  Attorney		$500	$500
  Paralegal		$180	$180

  The court's words

  Mr. Huff testified that he dedicated approximately 175.5 hours to this case at rate of $500.00 per hour

  his legal assistant, Juerena R. Hoffman, M.A., dedicated approximately 125.75 hours to this case at rate of $180.00 per hour

• Pizza Hut, LLC v. VARDAYANI MATA, INC. et al

  Apr 6, 2026 · Commercial

  Role	Experience	Requested	Approved
  Partner		$935	$935
  Attorney		$698	$698
  Attorney		$978	$978
  Attorney		$599	$599

  The court's words

  Coldwell charged a rate of $935.00 per hour

  Mallick charged a rate of $697.50 per hour

  Pitts charged a rate of $977.50 per hour

  Kara charged a rate of $599.00 per hour

• Joe Hand Promotions, Inc. v. Daq'z Crazy & Wing'z LLC et al

  Jan 8, 2026 · Other

  Role	Experience	Requested	Approved
  Attorney		$250	$250

  The court's words

  JHP attached the declaration of its counsel, Jamie Renee King, to establish that a rate of $250.00 per hour is reasonable. (Dkt. #53-1). Defendants have not contested this hourly rate.

• Case Name in Social Security Case - Unavailable

  Dec 12, 2025 · Social Security · Statutory rate, not in medians

  Role	Experience	Requested	Approved
  Attorney		$252	$252
  Paralegal		$100	$100

  The court's words

  The requested award of $7,200.00 represents an hourly rate of $252.25 for 28.8 hours of attorney work and an hourly rate of $100.00 for 2.5 hours of paralegal work.

  The requested award of $7,200.00 represents an hourly rate of $252.25 for 28.8 hours of attorney work and an hourly rate of $100.00 for 2.5 hours of paralegal work.

• Virtual Radiologic Professionals of Illinois, S.C. v. SHPS, PLLC d/b/a Radiologist.com

  Dec 2, 2025 · Commercial

  Role	Experience	Requested	Approved
  Attorney		$500	$500

  The court's words

  Duane Morris expended an additional 15.3 hours in preparing the Application at hourly rates ranging from $485–$500.

• Simpson v. Amerisave Mortgage Corporation

  Sep 29, 2025 · Commercial

  Role	Experience	Requested	Approved
  Attorney		$325	$325

  The court's words

  Mr. Weems further states that his hourly rate was originally $290.00 and increased to $325.00, resulting in a total of $4,473.00 for his work on the case.

• Bevill v. City of Quitman, Texas et al

  Aug 27, 2025 · Civil rights

  Role	Experience	Requested	Approved
  Attorney		$500	$500
  Attorney		$750	$750
  Attorney		$350	$350
  Attorney		$375	$375

  The court's words

  the $500 hourly rate for Ms. Geisler pre-2020, Mr. McCaffity pre-2022, and Ms. Rodenberg post-2022

  the $750 hourly rate for Ms. Geisler post-2020 and Mr. McCaffity post-2022

  the $350 hourly rate for Ms. Rodenberg pre-2022

  the $375 hourly rate for Ms. Neumann

• Luxottica of America Inc. v. Brave Optical, Inc., et al.

  Apr 29, 2025 · Commercial

  Role	Experience	Requested	Approved
  Partner		$750	$750
  Partner		$800	$800
  Associate		$450	$450
  Associate		$450	$450
  Paralegal		$270	$270
  Partner		$475	$475
  Partner		$475	$475
  Partner		$550	$550
  Partner		$550	$550
  Associate		$325	$325
  Paralegal		$175	$175
  Paralegal		$175	$175

  The court's words

  Britta Stanton, a partner, billed at a rate of $750.00 per hour;

  Chris Schwegmann, a partner, billed at a rate of $800.00 per hour;

  Amanda Alexander, an associate, billed at a rate of $450.00 per hour;

  Jessica Cox, an associate, billed at a rate of $450.00 per hour;

  Scott Smoot, a paralegal, billed at a rate of $270.00 per hour.

  Mary Melle, a partner, initially billed at a rate of $350.00 per hour, but her fee rate increased to $475.00 per hour by June 2023;

  Gwen Bhella, a partner, initially billed at a rate of $375.00 per hour, but her fee rate increased to $475.00 per hour by June 2023;

  Lucian Chen, a former partner, initially billed at a rate of $547.13 per hour, but his rate increased to $550.00 per hour by June 2023;

  Todd Nosher, a former partner, billed at a rate of $550.00 per hour;

  Jocelin Tapia, an associate, billed at a rate of $325.00 per hour;

  Andrea Castillo, a paralegal, initially billed at a rate of $150,00 per hour, but her rate increased to $175.00 per hour by June 2023;

  Wendy Harpel, a paralegal, initially billed at a rate of $150.00 per hour, but her rate increased to $175.00 per hour by June 2023.

• Cypers v. Bankcard Central LLC et al

  Dec 9, 2024 · Other

  Role	Experience	Requested	Approved
  Attorney		$400	$400
  Associate	10 years	$225	$225

  The court's words

  For his legal services, Catanzarite billed at a rate of $400.00 per hour (Dkt. #108 at ¶ 11; Dkt. #108-1 at p. 10).

  O’Keefe billed at a rate of $225.00 per hour (Dkt. #108 at ¶ 12; Dkt. #108-1 at p. 10).

• GRIFFIN v. O'brien, Wexler, and Associates, LLC et al

  Sep 26, 2024 · Consumer protection · Older than two years, not in medians

  Role	Experience	Requested	Approved
  Attorney		$400	$400

  The court's words

  Plaintiff alleges that he incurred an additional 23.5 hours of attorneys’ fees at an hourly rate of $400 by locating assets that can be executed upon to satisfy the judgment

• Benham v. Five Point Dental Specialists, Inc., et al.

  Aug 16, 2024 · Commercial · Older than two years, not in medians

  Role	Experience	Requested	Approved
  Associate		$455	$455
  Partner		$550	$550

  The court's words

  The hourly rates used to calculate the lodestar were $455 for associate Dallas Flick (who billed 7.1 hours) and $550 per hour for partners Matthew Muckleroy and Camille Avant

  $550 per hour for partners Matthew Muckleroy and Camille Avant (who billed 4.7 hours and 18.6 hours, respectively), totaling $16,045.50

Earlier rulings

The data is free to use under CC BY 4.0. Please credit "LegalTime Fee Cut Tracker" with a link to this page. Spot an error? Email team@legaltime.ai with the case name and we will correct it. Summaries of public court opinions. Not legal advice.

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