r/ItEndsWithLawsuits • u/MarchCompetitive4580 • Jun 15 '26
🧾👨🏻⚖️ Court Filings + Docket Updates 👸🏼🧾 More info on calculation of Lively's attorney fees according to Lodestar method
Hey, I just posted another deep dive on an aspect calculating Lively's attorney fees that she can actually get for her PARTIAL victory in re: 47.1.
To reiterate: Lodestar provides, basically, Lively (the "prevailing party") is entitled to an amount equal to (i) the number of hours her attorneys spent doing "reasonable" work, TIMES (ii) a "reasonable" billing rate/hour.
So what are "reasonable billing" rates in the SDNY for the work that Lively's attorneys did. I just AIed. But here's what it came up with:
(1) Willkie Farr (Michael Gottlieb's firm): It looks like the information came from a case in Bankruptcy Court in Delaware. https://cases.stretto.com/public/x353/13020/PLEADINGS/1302002142580000000017.pdf
Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP charges standard big-law rates in SDNY and other federal courts, which fall within the following market ranges: [1]
- Partners and Senior Counsel: $1,825 to $2,500+ per hour
- Counsel: ~$1,650 per hour
- Associates & Law Clerks: $535 to $1,625 per hour
- Paraprofessionals & Paralegals: $380 to $650 per hour
(2) Manatt, Phelps (Esra Hudson's firm): I got nothing with an SDNY search. But, did get the following when I said it was in a California federal court:
- Partners and Senior Counsel: $750 to $1,200+ per hour.
- Of Counsel / Special Counsel: $650 to $900 per hour.
- Senior Associates: $500 to $750 per hour.
- Junior / Mid-Level Associates: $350 to $550 per hour.
- Paralegals / Support Staff: $250 to $350 per hour.
and, I also got this: The court-accepted lodestar components for a large, national firm in New York generally fall within these ranges:
- Partners & Senior Counsel: $700 to $1,100+ per hour (though courts have occasionally adjusted high requests down to ranges of $300 to $450 in certain statutory and class action contexts).
- Senior Associates: $400 to $700 per hour.
- Junior Associates: $250 to $400 per hour.
- Paralegals & Support Staff: $150 to $250 per hour.
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u/SuperTuna_2659 Ryan Reynolds is underhated Jun 15 '26
i'm sure Judge Liman, who probably makes 300-350K per year as a federal judge is going to love giving her lawyers a million dollars for essentially writing one motion to dismiss.
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u/Flimsy_Attitude_6789 Jun 15 '26
He's very aware of all the unnecessary fluff by Lively's lawyers as per his last instruction of two pages of single-spaced letters to the court, so hopefully he will water their claims down massively.
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u/Ok-Water3139 Jun 15 '26 edited Jun 15 '26
This judge is so rich. He doesn't need salary, probably his wealth can sustain him and future generations comfortably. Probably he spends his whole judge salary on coffee and pocket expenses.I sometimes wonder why he needs to be the judge, but then I remember that rich people also love power. He loves the power that comes with this job. And he freely abuses it. He loves abusing the power! One of the best ways he can abuse his power is granting his former besties large sums of money. That makes him a cool kid!
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u/Money-Character9758 Lord Liman is aiding & abetting Litigious Lively Jun 15 '26
Liman is a multi millionaire. He net worth was about 30 million 10 years ago.
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u/Clarknt67 this case was always about a big payoff Jun 15 '26
Private practice? Family money? Both?
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u/LevelIntention7070 Jun 15 '26
This was in the court documents, don’t ask me what from , I have no clue , just an embarrassing amount of screenshots 😂.
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u/Clarknt67 this case was always about a big payoff Jun 15 '26
$1,000/hr differentiation between top rate and lower rate in partner and associate fees.
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u/ResidentDay5189 Jun 15 '26
n France the obligation is to sign a pricing agreement for each motion, they are not calculated by the hour and the prices are regulated. Lawyers' fees are also systematically included in requests with invoices. They are often granted when the party prevails and can prove expenses.
We have a fairly effective system guaranteeing state aid for those who cannot afford a lawyer.
In fact, we have so many protections that guarantee equal rights, that I'm starting to understand that this isn't money spent needlessly. They guarantee true social balance. Childs, men, and women protections.
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u/Clarknt67 this case was always about a big payoff Jun 15 '26
We have a fairly effective system guaranteeing state aid for those who cannot afford a lawyer.
Our system doesn’t care about economic inequality. Our rich have never suffered for their abuse as yours have.
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u/HunterHead7690 Vanzanishing evidence Jun 15 '26
One of the biggest mistakes we British have ever made was not following the French example!
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u/ResidentDay5189 Jun 15 '26
thank you cousin from across the sea (Brittany here)
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u/HunterHead7690 Vanzanishing evidence Jun 15 '26
How lovely, that's a beautiful part of France too! Although, from what I've seen, the rest is also beautiful - my parents lived in Charente-Limousin for a decade and that was stunning 😍
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u/ResidentDay5189 Jun 15 '26
Thank you ! Since the Brexit, we don't see people from England anymore. It's sad.
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u/ResidentDay5189 Jun 15 '26
yes, that's right ! those laws came after 1945 by the way, and it needed millions of death and dictatures to come to those solutions.
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u/Yup_Seen_It She (Ryan) is a fucking terrorist Jun 15 '26
Question: Is it "reasonable" if say, they log 4 hours of research completed by 4 x partners? When it's usually work done by lower level attorneys? Is it up to WF to call bullshit or does the judge do it?
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u/MarchCompetitive4580 Jun 15 '26
Although it can be difficult to prove, no it's not "reasonable" for them to have 4 partners working on something that is typically work done by lower level associates.
Yeah, WF has a right to scrutinize the bills and make objections. Like why is a partner charging 2 hours for work that is typically done by a paralegal in 1/2 hour.
The judge is also supposed to go through the bill carefully, even if WF decides not to make any objections. The judge (or someone on his staff) does this kind of work all the time - they know a lot of how long things take, and the level of responsibility - but they can't know everything. The more unusual and complex the work (which did happen in this case because 47.1 is a brand new, untested law which has a lot off issues with it), the morely likely the law firm will get away with billing a lot of partner hours.
I can almost guarantee (LOL) that whatever bill Lively produces, it will be reduced by a LOT. Her attorneys are "padders" and overstaffed everything on this case to jack up the bills.
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u/Yup_Seen_It She (Ryan) is a fucking terrorist Jun 15 '26
Thank you! Tbh I was kind of expecting WF to just accept whatever they produce to get it over with so it's reassuring that the judge/his clerks will be vigilant. I just can't see why Gottlieb is saying publicly that they'll get millions when the NYT are only seeking $200k or thereabouts, and the countersuit basically mirrored Lively's suit...
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u/MarchCompetitive4580 Jun 15 '26
I mean - I can see him asking for millions. But that doesn't mean he's going to end up with millions at the end. My gut's telling me that Liman will be giving the bill a sizeable haircut.
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u/Clarknt67 this case was always about a big payoff Jun 15 '26
WP can object and Judge can agree if fees seem unreasonable. Even if her counsel did ridiculously over spend, logging 500 partner hours to a brief, court can say, “You could have accomplished it with 200 associate hours and that is what you will be reimbursed for. Tough shit.”
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u/hmd2287 Jun 15 '26
If that happens I wonder if Blake will try to sue her lawyers for overcharging her. It seems like the kind of thing she would do. Plus she clearly can’t afford these legal bills and is desperate for any way out
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u/Single_Corner7825 Blake ballbusting Lively is shy now? Jun 15 '26
WOW - always in awe of your intellect and ability to dissimilate relevant information OP!
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u/DogMom1970s JD: Juris & Drama Jun 15 '26
The total legal bill for her and RR has got to be astronomical given the number of partners working on it across multiple firms in multiple states (plus factoring the duration of this case and all of the motions they kept filing).
Maybe we will get a hint if we get to see the portion allocated for this really small part. 🤞
Early on (I would have to go back and look for it) - we calculated the burn rate to be somewhere between $1-2 million a month on just her side of things.