Bernardi

ORDER

The plaintiffs’ attorneys’ present petition for attorney fees involves a single motion for contempt. The petition represents a classic case of over-lawyering and unnecessary piling on of hours, attorneys and assistants. ONE SINGLE competent attorney could have handled the underlying motion in a minimum of hours.

An attorney owes a duty to his client to do competent work; but that does not include an unreasonable, unnecessary and duplicative amount of effort in order to sustain billable hours.

This court will award reasonable attorney fees when the facts and circumstances warrant; however, this court has reviewed the documentation in the case and is quite concerned with the appropriateness of the billing procedure utilized by the plaintiffs’ attorneys. The length of time in rendering this present Order is indicative of the court’s concern re the attorneys’ fees and costs submitted.

I. BACKGROUND

This litigation results from charges of sex discrimination in the hiring and promotion policies of the Forest Service. In order to remedy any such discriminatory practices both parties in the litigation stipulated to a Consent Decree which instituted a complex plan whereby the…