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Monday, February 11, 2008
Courts - "Whether large law firms that successfully represent clients on a pro bono basis are entitled to seek substantial legal fees from the defendant"
The ILB has posted several entries on an issue raised primarily by last year's SCOTUS decision in the Louisville and Seattle school districts voluntary desegregation cases. The pro bono attorneys for the parents who succeeded in the suits throwing out the schools' plans, in both Seattle and Louisville, next sued the school districts for their legal fees. Here is a Sept. 8, 2007 story from Seattle; here is a Sept. 25, 2007 story from Louisville.
Friday, Feb. 8, Amanda Bronstad of The National Law Journal wrote a story headlined "Pro Bono Case Triggers a Fee Fight: Two recent instances of large firms collecting large fees in pro bono cases point to an increasingly controversial issue." Interestingly, the story is limited to Seattle cases. Some quotes:
A Seattle school district that lost a case before the U.S. Supreme Court is arguing that its opposing counsel, Davis Wright Tremaine, should not be entitled to nearly $1.8 million in attorney fees because it took the case pro bono.It is the second high-profile case in a year challenging fees collected by firms in pro bono cases.
A nonprofit group representing several parents of high school students sued Seattle Public Schools in 2000 to overturn an admissions policy that used race to determine which schools students could attend. PICS v. Seattle School District, No. 2:00-cv-01205 (W.D. Wash). Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court found that the policy violated the Constitution's equal protection clause under the 14th Amendment.
In September, Seattle-based Davis Wright Tremaine filed a petition before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals seeking nearly $1.8 million in legal fees. The 9th Circuit refused to grant that request until a federal judge in Washington issued a final judgment in the case.
In recent weeks, both sides have filed briefs in federal court in Washington.
In arguing against the fees, the school district has raised the increasingly contentious issue of whether large law firms that successfully represent clients on a pro bono basis are entitled to seek substantial legal fees from the defendant.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on February 11, 2008 02:10 PM
Posted to Courts in general