In Hensley v. Eckerhart (1983), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on how many hours a winning lawyer may charge to the losing side. The Court said: “In the private sector, ‘billing judgment’ is an important component in fee setting.”
Its test was the private client. “Hours that are not properly billed to one’s client also are not properly billed to one’s adversary.” Courts since then have cut hours they find excessive or unnecessary.
The American Bar Association’s Model Rule 1.5(b) governs how lawyers state their fees. “The scope of the representation and the basis or rate of the fee and expenses for which the client will be responsible shall be communicated to the client, preferably in writing, before or within a reasonable time after commencing the representation …” The exception is a regularly represented client charged on the same basis.
For a contingent fee, writing is not only preferred. Rule 1.5(c) says: “A contingent fee agreement shall be in a writing signed by the client.”
In his State of the Union address on February 7, 2023, President Joe Biden attacked “junk fees.” He said: “Americans are tired of being played for suckers.” He named airline fees for seating children next to their parents: “Baggage fees are bad enough. Airlines can’t treat your child like a piece of baggage.” His proposal also targeted hotel resort fees and concert ticket service fees.
A rule of the Federal Trade Commission took effect on May 12, 2025. For live-event tickets and short-term lodging, the total price must be shown up front. It must include all known charges and fees, and it must be displayed more prominently than any other price information.
Under the Fair Credit Billing Act of 1974, a customer can dispute a billing error on a credit card statement, such as a wrong amount or a charge for goods never delivered. The dispute must be made in writing, no later than 60 days after the statement is issued.
The card issuer must acknowledge the dispute within 30 days. It must resolve it within two billing cycles, and in no event later than 90 days.
Under California law, a car repair shop must give the customer a written estimate for the parts and labor of a specific job. The regulation adds that the estimate “shall be provided to and authorized by the customer before any work commences.”
The shop may not charge more than the estimate without the customer’s consent. The statute says: “No charge shall be made for work done or parts supplied in excess of the estimated price … without the oral or written consent of the customer.”
The American Medical Association’s Code of Medical Ethics addresses fees for “missed appointments or appointments not cancelled in advance in keeping with the published policy of the practice.” Physicians should base such fees on reasonable costs and “clearly notify patients in advance.”
The fee covers appointments missed or not canceled in advance.
American lawyers record their working time in tenths of an hour. The system goes back to Reginald Heber Smith, who joined the Boston firm Hale and Dorr in 1919. His timesheet was divided into six-minute units, because, he wrote, “I can more easily add, subtract, and divide on the decimal system.” The American Bar Association published his system in 1940.
Firms now set annual targets. Justice Stephen Breyer has said: “There is tremendous pressure on younger lawyers to produce 2,000, 2,200, 2,400 billable hours.” A Yale Law School estimate found that 2,200 billable hours a year require being at work 59 hours a week.
Since January 1, 2022, a federal law called the No Surprises Act has protected patients against surprise medical bills. Before the law took effect, nearly one in five emergency room patients received a surprise bill, according to federal health officials.
The law does not forbid high costs. It forbids the surprise. Before non-emergency care, providers have to give uninsured patients a good faith estimate of the costs. A patient whose bill is $400 or more above the estimate can dispute it.
Federal law requires a lender to disclose the annual percentage rate, the finance charge, the amount financed and the total of payments, in a prescribed format, before the borrower signs. The disclosure is standardized so it can be compared across lenders. The borrower is not expected to know what to ask.