Opinion ID: 573091
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Enhancement of Fees: Specialization and Availability

Text: 44 Plaintiffs argue in respect to the alternative award under section 2412(d) that the district court abused its discretion when it refused to enhance the section 2412(d) fee due to the attorneys' expertise and limited availability. Plaintiffs point to the attorneys' fluency in Spanish, as well as their board certification in immigration law as evidence that the attorneys possessed special expertise. Additionally, plaintiffs assert that few attorneys are willing to engage in this sort of litigation; thus, there is limited availability. These special factors, contend plaintiffs, warrant an increase in the base fee. The magistrate considered these arguments at length, evaluating the testimony of numerous experts, but ultimately rejected them. 45 In Underwood, supra, the Supreme Court interpreted these special factors as referring to attorneys qualified 46 in some specialized sense, rather than just in their general legal competence. We think it refers to attorneys having some distinctive knowledge or specialized skill needful for the litigation in question--as opposed to an extraordinary level of the general lawyerly knowledge and ability useful in all litigation. Examples of the former would be an identifiable practice specialty such as patent law, or knowledge of foreign law or language. Underwood, 108 S.Ct. at 2554. 47 Defendants concede that patent law appropriately represents a specialized area because of the specific technical training required of members of the Patent Bar. 15 However, defendants argue that immigration law is no more a specialty than family law, or bankruptcy, or numerous other areas of the law. Further, defendants point out that the magistrate found no showing of a lack of attorneys able to handle this type of litigation. 48 Although at least one court has apparently recognized that immigration specialty can constitute a special factor under the EAJA, Ramon-Sepulveda v. INS, 863 F.2d 1458 (9th Cir.1988) (dicta), we believe that the Supreme Court in Underwood intended to distinguish nonlegal or technical abilities possessed by, for example, patent lawyers and experts in foreign law, from other types of substantive specializations currently proliferating within the profession. In a sense, every attorney practicing within a narrow field could claim specialized knowledge. Although the district court found that [i]mmigration law is a specialty area requiring an extensive and current knowledge of applicable statutes and regulations, such is true for virtually any area of law, particularly those involving the intricate federal statutory schemes that typically give rise to awards under the EAJA. 49 In Baker v. Bowen, 839 F.2d 1075, 1084 (5th Cir.1988), we considered whether attorneys specialized in social security litigation merited an enhancement to the statutory rate. In remanding to the district court for further findings, we warned that the 50 district court must be careful to distinguish the limited availability of attorneys from the special expertise of certain attorneys or the mere unattractiveness of the field.... [T]he ultimate issue is whether there is reason to believe that social security claimants with colorable claims will actually be disadvantaged by denial of access to the courts because of lack of available representation. Id. at 1084-85. 51 Thus, Baker teaches that an increased rate should be awarded for special expertise/limited availability only if: (1) the number of competent attorneys who handle cases in the specialized field is so limited that individuals who have possibly valid claims are unable to secure representation; and (2) that by increasing the fee, the availability of lawyers for these cases will actually be increased. 16 Id. at 1085. 52 The district court below conceded that plaintiffs' attorneys possessed skill in immigration practice as well as useful fluency in Spanish. The court also considered testimony from several attorneys who testified that increasing the fee would increase the availability of lawyers willing to handle this type of litigation. However, the court found no limited availability of qualified attorneys to handle immigration cases, noting that the problem is not that the attorneys would not work for $75 per hour, but that they often could not collect any fee from their indigent clients. The court also found that plaintiffs' experts were unable to identify any persons with colorable claims that remained unrepresented. Accordingly, the district court rejected an increase based on expertise or limited availability. 53 We conclude that the district court's findings under the Baker test are not clearly erroneous. We therefore hold that the district court did not abuse its discretion by refusing enhancements based on specialization or limited availability in respect to its alternative award under section 2412(d).