Opinion ID: 387362
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Reasonable Private and Government Attorney's Fees in Government Litigation

Text: 237 The Government operates in a universe of attorney's fees lower than that prevailing in the world of wealthy corporate clients. If the Government were pressing the Title VII case rather than defending, its legal costs would not approximate private market value. Government legal counsel, whether on the plaintiff or defendant side, traditionally simply have never been compensated at the same scale as in private practice. The young associate makes slightly more than the young Government attorney; the margin becomes really vast when partner status in a prestigious law firm is compared even with the Attorney General of the United States. Since the Government willy-nilly is financing these Title VII suits both by plaintiffs who succeed and do not succeed (giving effect to a contingency factor), Government counsel defending and plaintiffs' counsel bringing the suits should have compensation of roughly the same amplitude. 238 There is a logical symmetry in this principle. When the Government as a defendant prevails, it has asked for and received only its actual costs, the salaries of the attorneys working on the case plus overhead costs attributable to their work-not the market value going hourly rate of the private sector. 10 It is undeniably the same litigation, vindicating the rights of employees discriminated against, whether the Government wins or loses. The work on the facts and the legal issues is of the same complexity on both sides. Indeed, if the Government were not the defendant employer, the private attorneys would not be bringing a pro bono publico lawsuit as private attorneys general. What the private attorneys are doing is essentially Government legal work. Recognizing this, why should the private attorneys be compensated on a scale other than actual costs (salary and overhead) plus a reasonable profit to encourage them to continue accepting employment in this type of litigation? The purpose of Title VII attorney's fees would be fully vindicated by such a policy. 239