The Ethics of Outside Legal Fee Analysis:
Dedicated to Founding Member Bruce R. Meckler (1955-2016)
Legal fee analysis is the comprehensive review and analysis of attorney fees and costs by an outside party in a legal matter. Professionals who routinely perform outside or third-party or post-bill legal fee analysis include attorney fee experts, special masters, bankruptcy fee examiners, fee dispute neutrals, and legal bill reviewers.
The following ten best practice measures were developed over several years with input and consensus from thought leaders (members and non-members) from across the legal fee analysis professional community. These best practice measures promote values such as ethics, independence, and professional development.
These peer review driven standards help strengthen the legal fee analysis field by ensuring integrity in the process and reliability in the results. These best practice measures are the generally accepted standards within the legal fee analysis professional community.
All our members (i.e. qualified attorney fee experts, special masters, bankruptcy fee examiners, fee dispute neutrals, and legal bill reviewers) are signatories to the following ethics for outside legal fee analysis:
1.00 Adhere to the proper standard of reasonableness.
2.00 Observe a consistent and reliable methodology.
3.00 Keep updated on the latest jurisprudence (i.e. the body of law, key court rulings, bar advisories, etc.) on reasonable attorney fees and expenses.
4.00 Keep updated on the latest scholarship (i.e. empirical papers, studies, surveys, reports, etc.) on reasonable attorney fees and expenses.
5.00 Participate in professional development and CLE programs on litigation management, attorney fees, and legal billing topics.
6.00 Do not advertise false or intentionally misleading information or offer any guarantee of outcome.
7.00 Do not charge on a contingency basis (i.e. based on the results obtained).
8.00 Do not accept a case or client where there is an inherent conflict of interest.
9.00 Keep all fee, billing, rate, and work product information in the strictest confidence.
10.00 Employ data science and technology in outside legal fee analysis
Established in January 2012