Conservatorship of Piedad Diaz de Uriarte

Case Number

23PR00445

Case Type

Hearing Date / Time

Tue, 06/24/2025 - 09:00

Nature of Proceedings

Petition for Attorney Fees

Tentative Ruling

Probate Notes:

Appearances required. The following is noted for the Court at the hearing:

Attorney for Conservatee does not bill for any suspect work, and the only questionable billing items are several entries for 0.2 hours (12 min) for tasks identified only as “review” of tentative rulings, emails, documents, etc.  Usually, the questionable charges are negligible, and would likely not result in much of a reduction to require further hearing/explanation to justify the reduction.

In this case, however, the number of 0.2 hour entries (137, which = 27.4 hrs) is concerning, and the Court should reduce the fee request on those entries by 2-4 hours, or what amounts to $1600-2000.

That stated, it is also noted for the Court that the standard practice in the legal community is to bill for 0.2 hour “minimum” charges every time an attorney touches the case. This is evident in multitudes of retainer agreements filed for review in all case types across the board.  Therefore, a reduction is recommended, but not necessarily justified according to the traditional interpretation of the “standard in the legal community,” because minimum 0.2 hour billing is fairly standard by objectively observable metrics.

Appearances:

The court is open to the public for court business. The court is also conducting hearings via Zoom videoconference.

Meeting ID: 160 543 3416

Passcode: 5053334