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I'm currently doing a law school clinic focused on consumer protection, and I'm enjoying it a lot. Many of the statutes we litigate under have fee-shifting provisions, and I'm curious what kind of living a lawyer can make off of these sorts of cases. I know you have to get the court to approve the fees, and I've seen that courts will approve rates in the ballpark of $300-$400/hour. But I'm sure there's a fair amount of work that you don't get compensated for, including the litigation over whether your fee request is appropriate. And it's not like you win every case.

Does anyone out there have experience working at firms that depend significantly on fee-shifting? How lucrative can this kind of work be, if done well?

I work at a top flight plaintiffs boutique that has recovered tens of billions of dollars in just the past 6-7 years. I make more as an associate now than I did at my v50. So yeah, these cases can make a lot of money.

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 01, 2021 1:55 pm

I work at a top flight plaintiffs boutique that has recovered tens of billions of dollars in just the past 6-7 years. I make more as an associate now than I did at my v50. So yeah, these cases can make a lot of money.

I'm guessing that's not just from fee-shifting, though. Or is it? I know that the big contingency fee cases can generate a lot of revenue, but I'm thinking more about cases where there are minimal damages.