In re Butler CA1/2

BACKGROUND

On October 21, 2014, Butler filed a Motion for Request for Award of Reasonable Attorneys’ Fees (motion) seeking $439,421.65. The motion was accompanied by a memorandum of points and authorities and two declarations. The declaration of the lead attorney, Jon B. Streeter, stated that “Keker & Van Nest specializes in complex civil litigation,” that the issues in this case were factually and legally complex, and that consistent with the firm’s usual practice he assigned two more junior attorneys to work with him on the case, Sharif E. Jacob, a senior associate, and Benita Brahmbhatt, a junior associate. The Streeter declaration also stated that Streeter, then a partner at Keker & Van Nest, “personally coordinated, managed, and made all strategically important judgments on every aspect of the work on Mr. Butler’s case.” 1 The declaration further stated that the firm was “claiming fees only for time spent litigating Mr. Butler’s base term claim and for the Fee Motion” and not for time spent on Butler’s individual claim. However, the firm had for some time used “a single billing code” for all aspects of the case, and it was “not possible to determine from evaluating the…