In a recent post on its Attorney Fees Blog, the National Association of Legal Fee Analysis (NALFA) has identified 16 factors in court awarded attorney fees. Several of these fee factors are derived from such seminal fee jurisprudence cases as Goldberger v. Integrated Resources, 209 F.3d 43 (2d Cir. 2000) and Johnson v. Georgia Highway Express, 488 F.2d 714 (5th Cir. 1974):
1. Reasonable, Prevailing Hourly Rates
2. Reasonableness of the Number of Hours Billed
3. Successful Results Obtained for the Number of Client(s)
4. Risk of the Litigation: Non-Payment and Preclusion of Other Cases
5. Quality of the Work and Representation
6. Experience, Reputation, and Ability of the Attorneys
7. Novelty and Difficulty of the Legal Issues in the Underlying Case
8. Efficient Litigation Management Practices: Case Staffing and Task
Assignments
9. Economic Exposure: Fees in Relation to the Amount at Stake in the Underlying Case
10. Fee in Relation to the Size of the Settlement
11. Fees in Relation to Similar Cases
12. Nature of the Working Relationship with Opposing Counsel
13. Customary Timekeeping Billing Practices
14. Billing Judgment
15. Public Policy Considerations
16. Nature and Length of the Attorney-Client Relationship
For the California analog of cases mentioning many of the same factors, see PLCM Group, Inc. v. Drexler, 22 Cal.4th 1084 (2000); Ketchum v. Moses, 24 Cal.4th 1122 (2001); Christian Research Institute v. Alnor, 165 Cal.App.4th 1345 (2008).