Attorney Fee Rates Up to $1,210/Hour Found Reasonable in Patent Case Litigated in Northern District of Texas

On June 12, 2020, Magistrate Judge Rutherford issued an opinion in the Industrial Print Technologies cases (available here) addressing a request for attorney’s fees. The District Court had previously determined that Defendants Cenveo and O’Neil Data Systems were entitled to recover attorney’s fees from Plaintiff Industrial Print Technologies under 35 U.S.C. § 285 for a certain portion of the case. Defendants sought $404,016 in fees for that time period. Defendants were represented by Weil, Gotshal, & Manges and Fish & Richardson.

In terms of rates charged by the firms:

The legal team at Weil comprised one senior partner, two senior associates, one junior associate, and four paralegals who generally bill at hourly rates of $1,165.00-$1,210.00 for senior partners, $600.00-$725.00 for junior associates, and $225.00-$375.00 for paralegals based on experience level. The Fish team included two principals and one of counsel attorney who generally bill their time at hourly rates ranging from $885.00-$990.00 for principals to $525.00-$645.00 for non-principals.

But both firms negotiated “confidential discounted rates” that Defendants paid. Judge Rutherford found that both the “standard” rates and the “discounted rates” were reasonable with respect to attorneys. But the Weil paralegal rates were adjusted downward to $225/hour. Ultimately, Judge Rutherford recommended that the Court enter final judgment awarding a total of $402,867.

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