Consumer Law & Practice Survey Report
Now in its 25th year, prior editions of the US Consumer Law Attorney Fee Survey Report have been used and cited in Attorney fee decisions from more than 400 jurisdictions, state and federal courts, the US Court of Federal Claims, the US Department of Justice, the US Department of Labor, and the American Arbitration Association, awarding more the $60.9 million in attorney fee across the United States.
Fee Study Report Stats
What We Achieved
25+
Years ago first report published
$60.9+
Million in total fees now awarded by use of the survey.
400+
Court, Arbitration and, Government agency decisions.
Be in the know.
FRIDAY ON FEES
Friday on Fees is an informal but insightful look into the often misunderstood world of attorney fee rates, court-awarded compensation, and the data behind both. It’s where attorneys, paralegals, and legal professionals come together each week to demystify how fees are actually calculated in real cases and how to use the U.S. Consumer Law Attorney Fee Survey Report to your advantage.
Whether you’re drafting a fee petition, preparing for a hearing, or simply want to stay current on what courts are awarding in attorney fees across the country, Friday on Fees delivers. With discussions that highlight everything from rate justification strategies to the latest judicial commentary, it’s become a go-to for consumer advocates who need to turn numbers into persuasive evidence. You don’t have to guess what’s reasonable—Friday on Fees helps show you.
Stay tuned and bring your coffee—every Friday
About – Ronald l. Burdge
The Business of Law & Hourly Rates – It’s What I Do
Widely recognized as an expert on Attorney Fee issues in Ohio and elsewhere, for more than 40 years Mr. Burdge has studied nationwide attorney fee court decisions, authored dozens of articles and given over 100 CLE seminars in Ohio and nationwide on and involving attorney fee issues. His expert knowledge includes calculating hourly rates, fee shifting rules and practices, court fee decision principles and processes and related attorney fee issues. His experience includes expert witness analyses and testimony before the Ohio state legislature and Ohio state and federal courts and others courts nationwide. Mr. Burdge is a teaching faculty member of the National Association of Legal Fee Analysis (NALFA), the nation’s premier association of Legal Fee Experts.
Since 1999 Mr Burdge has conducted a national survey on attorney fees and law office practices in Consumer Law and other areas of law publishing the results in a series titled the United States Consumer Law Attorney Fee Survey Report. His published reports have been used by more than 400 Courts in Ohio and more than 55 other jurisdictions, plus the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, the U.S. Departments of Justice and the Labor Department, and JAMS ADR Service and American Arbitration Association arbitrators, to award just under $55M in attorney fees. For nearly 3 years Mr Burdge has published Friday on Fees, a weekly newsletter to over 2,000 attorneys on current attorney fee issues, including current hourly rates and attorney fee decisions and the principles and processes used by courts and arbitrators and administrative agencies to determine reasonable attorney fees across the country.
Admitted to practice in Ohio in 1978, Mr. Burdge has over four decades of Consumer Law trial and appellate work in Ohio state and federal courts and elsewhere nationwide. In his career he has handled virtually all types of civil, criminal, and administrative law cases by court appointment and private engagement nationwide including individual, mass and class action cases, along with over 100 attorney fee motions and appeals. Named a Super Lawyer in 2005 and repeatedly thereafter including 2025, Mr. Burdge authored and co authored numerous chapters of books and articles on the law and Attorney Fee issues published by the ABA, Thomson Reuters – West Publishing, the National Consumer Law Center, and several bar associations, and is a frequent author and speaker on attorney fee issues before national, state, and local bar associations and professional conferences.