Attorneys' Fee Awards
Laws that protect civil rights commonly include a critical enforcement tool: an award of attorneys’ fees. By providing attorneys’ fees, these laws encourage lawyers to help bring cases that benefit society as a whole.
The Brennan Center is dedicated to preserving attorneys’ fee award policies. In 2009, we successfully restored the authority of civil legal aid lawyers to file claims for attorneys’ fee awards on behalf of low-income families. We continue to monitor policy proposals aimed at gutting fee-shifting provisions that promote equal justice.
Lochren v. County of Suffolk (Amicus Brief)
The Brennan Center and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison filed an amicus brief, on behalf of 30 public interest organizations and law firms asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit for en banc consideration of the standard for awarding attorneys’ fees that the Court adopted in Lochren v. County of Suffolk.
Dobbins/Velazquez v. Legal Services Corporation
This lawsuit challenges restrictions on civil legal aid programs that receive some of their funding from the federal Legal Services Corporation (LSC).
Arbor Hill v. Albany (Amicus Brief)
The Brennan Center and allies filed an amicus brief emphasizing the importance of attorneys’ fee awards in enabling law firms to take civil rights cases and those cases benefiting low-income people.
Common Sense Solutions for Civil Legal Aid
The Civil Access to Justice Act is a vitally important move at exactly the right time….
Arbor Hill—Is Three Times a Charm?
It’s unusual for any court to issue three versions of one opinion, but in Arbor Hill, a civil rights case involving an award of attorneys fees, the U.S. Court of Appeals is at three, and counting….
Reform Federal Civil Justice Policy to Meet the High-Stakes Legal Needs of Low-Income People
Voters called for a different approach to national policy. With the New Year, it is time for Congress to make that new approach happen….
Senate Appropriations Committee Votes to Repeal “Poison Pill” Restriction on Federal Legal Services
On June 25, 2009, the Senate Appropriations Committee voted to lift the “LSC poison pill restriction” - the federal appropriations provision that encumbers up to $490 million in state, local, and charitable private contributions raised by legal services nonprofits that receive federal funding from the nation’s Legal Services Corporation (LSC).
Senator Harkin Introduces Civil Access to Justice Act
In today’s economy, there is a growing demand for civil legal aid representation. The Civil Access to Justice Act will significantly improve access to civil legal aid by removing severe litigation restrictions, increasing funding, and expanding law school clinics’ legal assistance.
U.S. Supreme Court Declines to Review Restrictions on Funding for Lawyers for the Poor
Complying with this “physical separation requirement” is so expensive that virtually none of the 138 LSC grantees around the country comply.
Brennan Center, Civil Rights Groups Oppose House Measure to Gut Attorneys’ Fee Awards
In a letter to Senate leadership, the Brennan Center and 13 other access to justice and civil rights organizations urged the Senate not to adopt a measure that would gut the ability of seniors, veterans and others to obtain counsel in cases against the federal government.
108 Congressmen Urge End to Key LSC Restrictions
108 Members of the House of Representatives signed onto a letter, authored by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), which calls on participants of the conference committee on the Commerce-Justice-Science Appropriations bill to lift the legal services restriction on non-federal funds and the restriction on seeking attorneys’ fees with federal and non-federal funds, and raise LSC’s funding level to $440 million for FY 2010.
Letter from Members of West Virginia Bar to Rep. Mollohan Requests Repeal of Key LSC Restriction
Forty-five members of the West Virginia State Bar, including a former U.S. Congressman and two state delegates, signed onto a letter to Rep. Mollohan (D-WV). The letter urges the Congressman to repeal the LSC restriction on non-federal funds when the relevant House and Senate bills are considered by a conference committee.
Reasons to Oppose the Government Litigation Savings Act
This fact sheet summarizes how proposed federal legislation would unjustly prohibit those seeking to enforce important rights – such as free speech, gun rights, pollution protections, religious freedoms, and other civil rights – from recovering attorney’s fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act or EAJA.
The Legal Services Corporation was created to help provide essential civil legal services to low-income Americans. In the mid-1990s, the Republican-controlled Congress imposed sweeping and unwarranted restrictions that continue to hamper the work of local legal services offices . . . .
Amici Request En Banc Review of Standards on Fee-Splitting
Recent federal court decisions establish a ‘virtually insurmountable’ standard for determining fees for out-of-district counsel that will ‘rob some civil rights plaintiffs of the only representation they can find,’ insists a broad coalition of 30 public interest organizations and private law firms . . . .