Hoyt W. and Barbara D. Young, et al. - Page 47

                                        - 47 -                                        
          included in the paralegals’ worksheets amount to 210.5 hours                
          (106.25 hours and 104.25 hours, respectively).                              
               Respondent points out that, with the exception of four time            
          entries (totaling 2 hours) that appear in one of the paralegal              
          worksheets but not the other, the paralegals’ worksheets are in             
          all respects identical.  Furthermore, the 64 identical time                 
          entries contained in the paralegals’ worksheets also appear in              
          Jones’s worksheet, with the only difference being the amount of             
          time claimed for each entry (the dates and descriptions are                 
          identical).34  Respondent understandably questions the reliability          
          of these worksheets.                                                        
               While we are willing to accept the “reconstruction” of                 
          paralegal time based on Jones’s worksheet, we question the total            
          number of paralegal hours so reconstructed.  In a declaration               
          submitted with the initial fee request, Jones’s office manager-             
          controller posits an attorney/paralegal hours ratio for the                 
          period August 16, 1999 through May 27, 2003, of almost 8 to 3.              
          Materials submitted by the Jones petitioners for the post-appeal            
          period June 1, 2003 to July 15, 2005 (not addressed in this                 
          opinion), reveal an attorney/nonattorney hours ratio of                     
          approximately 5 to 4.35  Turning to the reconstructed worksheets            


          34 Jones’s worksheet contains an additional 42 time entries                 
          that do not appear in the paralegals’ worksheets.                           
          35 The nonattorney time for the post-appeal period includes                 
          time charged by a law clerk, an accountant, and an “account                 
                                                              (continued...)          




Page:  Previous  37  38  39  40  41  42  43  44  45  46  47  48  49  50  51  52  53  54  55  56  Next

Last modified: May 25, 2011