NCJ Number
96879
Date Published
1984
Length
56 pages
Annotation
A survey of 39 lawyers regarding their opinions of Judge Grady's order in In re Continental Illinois Securities Litigation, which was designed to prevent abuses in attorneys' fee petitions, revealed general appreciation for the order's concept but called for a more flexible approach to the problem.
Abstract
Judge Grady's guidelines cover such issues as compensation for conferring, duplication of effort, rates of compensation, types of services that are compensable, limits on expenses, form of time records, and organizations of counsel. To elicit reactions to the guidelines, lawyers from six practice categories and various geographic regions were surveyed. Respondents believed that implementation of the guidelines was likely to produce a substantial cost savings in that type of litigation and in other commercial cases. If interpreted strictly and enforced rigorously, however, respondents feared the guidelines might interfere with a lawyer's ability to provide adequate representation for a client. Most respondents found most of the guidelines reasonable if administered with some flexibility. Few believed Judge Grady's order would discourage plaintiffs and their counsel from initiating legislation. The lawyers identified numerous alternatives for containing the amount of attorneys' fees in class litigation. The most comprehensive alternative was periodic review of billings during the course of litigation by the judge or extrajudicial support personnel. The report provides detailed descriptions of the responses, the text of Judge Grady's guidelines, and the survey questionnaire.