Attorney Fees
Judge Suggests Legal Fees Padded Due to Billable-Hour Requirement
Posted Aug 14, 2008, 06:18 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
A dispute over $64,000 in a judge’s unpaid legal fees has highlighted law firm billable-hour requirements.
Judge David French of Palm Beach County claims the Rutherford Mulhall law firm charged him for 300 unnecessary hours of work in his alimony case and suggests that law firm policies may be to blame, the Palm Beach Post reports.
In court pleadings French says lawyers at the firm are sanctioned if they fail to bill 1,800 hours a year.
Rutherford Mulhall represented French in an unsuccessful attempt to end his monthly $3,400 alimony payments to his ex-wife. The firm's suit against French suggests he decided not to pay $64,000 in fees because he lost the case.
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