Attorney's fee

"Legal fees" redirects here. Not to be confused with Legal costs.

Attorney's fee is a chiefly United States term for compensation for legal services performed by an attorney (lawyer or law firm) for a client, in or out of court.

Fees may be an hourly, flat-rate or contingent fee. Recent studies suggest that when lawyers charge a flat-fee rather than billing by the hour, they work less hard on behalf of clients and clients get worse outcomes.[1][2][3]

Attorney fees are separate from fines, compensatory and punitive damages, and (except in Nevada) from court costs in a legal case. Under the "American rule", attorney fees are usually not paid by the losing party to the winning party in a case, except pursuant to specific statutory or contractual rights.

  1. ^ "Brian Leiter's Law School Reports". leiterlawschool.typepad.com. Retrieved 2016-05-06.
  2. ^ Schwall, Benjamin (2015-06-25). "High-Powered Attorney Incentives: A Look at the New Indigent Defense System in South Carolina". Rochester, NY: Social Science Research Network. SSRN 2623202. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. ^ Amanda Y. Agan. "Research". sites.google.com. Retrieved 2016-05-06.