Arbitration award affirmed in attorneys fee dispute
April 8, 2015A law firm and its client arbitrated a fee dispute. While the arbitrators ruled for the firm, the district court vacated the award as to the contingent fee on the grounds that the fee was unconscionable. The Fifth Circuit reinstated the arbitration award, noting the “extraordinarily narrow” standard of review and the arbitrators’ specific fact findings on the relevant considerations. Campbell Harrison & Dagley LLP v. Hill, No. 14-10631 (April 2, 2015, unpublished). The Court acknowledged, but concluded that it did not need to address, the question whether the ability to vacate an arbitration award on public policy grounds survived Hall Street Associates v. Mattel, 128 S. Ct. 1396 (2008).