The Delaware Courts’ Multi-Factor Approach to Attorneys’ Fees Is No “Black Box”: A Response to Professors Pritchard and Erickson
Professors Adam C. Pritchard and Jessica M. Erickson recently posted Opening Delaware’s Black Box of Attorneys’ Fees (“Black Box”) , stating that fee awards in the Delaware courts are based on “judges’ intuition [that] creates a black box that only the judges themselves can understand.” My forty-seven years of experience in corporate litigation in the […]
Posted by Michael Hanrahan, Prickett, Jones & Elliott, P.A., on Thursday, May 15, 2025
Editor's Note:
Michael Hanrahan is a Director at Prickett, Jones & Elliott, P.A. This post is based on his recent statement and is part of the Delaware law series; links to other posts in the series are available here.
Professors Adam C. Pritchard and Jessica M. Erickson recently posted Opening Delaware’s Black Box of Attorneys’ Fees (“Black Box”) [2], stating that fee awards in the Delaware courts are based on “judges’ intuition [that] creates a black box that only the judges themselves can understand.” [3] My forty-seven years of experience in corporate litigation in the Delaware courts, including arguing for and sometimes against fee requests, causes me to disagree with the professors. [4]
