Opinion ID: 506310
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Setting the Hourly Rate.

Text: 15 The fee application in this case is inadequate. It provides the trial judge with no guidance as to the market rate for attorneys of similar skill representing similar clients in similar cases in the Mobile area. The market rate for federal civil litigation is too over-inclusive to be relevant. The record in this case demonstrates that rates vary from $50 to more than $120 per hour for federal civil litigation without any consideration of skill, 1 client, or type of case. The typical rate within the range can be artificially raised or lowered with the inclusion of quotes for work for government authorities or work of great complexity involving sophisticated legal problems. 2 16 Because the fee petition is inadequate, the district court is completely at liberty to determine the reasonable hourly rate relying on its own expertise. Norman, 836 F.2d 1292, 1303. It must appear, however, that in the exercise of that expertise the trial court is considering what it knows of market rates for the type of litigation at bar and is not setting a fee with reference to overly generalized motions of the total range of fees for all federal civil litigation. The district judge must reconsider the matter in the proper focus. We intimate no opinion as to what the proper fee is or that $75 an hour is not the proper fee. We require only a showing that the trial court was determining the market rate in light of the attorney's skill, the type of case, and the client. 17