Volume 19, Number 7
October/November 2002
PRODUCT REVIEW
Attorneys' Fees
By Robert L. Rossi
Reviewed by Andrew C. Simpson
When I agreed to review Attorneys' Fees by Robert L. Rossi, I
expected I would be reading a how-to manual on recovering fees.
Although this expectation may betray more about me than I would
otherwise like to admit, I found the title hides a wealth of
information found inside.
Attorneys' Fees is a comprehensive analysis of every conceivable
issue relating to fees. Its topics include: ethical rules
relating to fees, fee agreements, fee recovery statutes and rules
(federal and state), common law methods of obtaining fees from
opposing parties, fee liens, fee disputes, and fee collection. I
was particularly impressed with the depth of coverage devoted to
each topic.
Each chapter is logically arranged and exhaustively outlined in
the table of contents. Thus, by reviewing the table of contents
alone, the reader can quickly pinpoint the section of the work
that is most likely to provide the answer to the issue of
interest. In addition, the Index is also sufficiently detailed to
allow the reader to rapidly find that elusive answer.
For example, suppose you have worked hard to recover an award for
an injured plaintiff and at the end of the case, a subrogated
insurer seeks a portion of the recovery. Should the insurer have
to bear a portion of your fee, or does it recover fee-free? The
table of contents quickly points you to Chapter 7, "Allowance of
Fees Out of Fund," subsection 7.20, "Insurance subrogation." And
altering the search to cover either "insurance" or "subrogation"
leads you to the same section.
Continuing with this example, your next step might be to write a
letter to the insurer, explaining that it must pay a fee on its
portion of the recovery. The text is thoroughly footnoted so that
you can quickly supplement your letter with cases from around the
country to support your position. (Based upon the 300-page Table
of Cases, I conservatively estimate that there are more than
8,000 cases cited throughout the reference.) Depending upon your
style, you can even give the insurer a mini-history lesson on the
development of the doctrine and describe how it evolved from the
seminal case back in 1961. Even if the insurance company is not
persuaded, it will certainly believe that your client was well
represented! More importantly, the research time you will save by
using this efficient resource will quickly recover its $258.50
list price. The treatise is updated annually and published in two
volumes consisting of four-ring binders (not hardbound as
described on the West Group website). I prefer this format to
hardbound because it allows each book to lay flat on my desk
without the necessity of breaking the binding.
I could find only two reasons to criticize the book (other than
the fact that its name is not descriptive enough to truly alert
the reader as to how much information is inside). First, some of
the text is a bit inconsistent with explanations provided in the
footnotes. Some of the cases in the footnotes do not contain
parenthetical explanations to help the reader better understand
the reason for the court's ruling. This is true in only a
minority of the footnotes and in no way detracts from the overall
value of the work, but I did notice the lapse.
Second, each volume's excellent outline-style Table of Contents
is limited to the contents for that volume-the topics covered in
Volume Two are not outlined in Volume One, and vice versa. If I
were to use the Table of Contents for research, I would find it
much more helpful to have the entire contents for both volumes
outlined at the beginning of each.
Within 30 days, I used Attorneys' Fees twice for areas related to
my practice, and both times it provided helpful insight. It is a
valuable reference for any general practitioner's bookshelf.
Andrew C. Simpson is a lawyer in
Christiansted, Virgin Islands.
Note: West Group is a corporate sponsor of the General
Practice, Solo and Small Firm Division; this article appears in
connection with the Section's sponsorship agreement with West
Group. Neither the ABA nor ABA sections endorse non-ABA products
or services, and this review should not be so
construed.
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