United States Fifth Circuit

District court did not abuse its discretion in reducing attorneys' fees to those comparable with local rates because local counsel had "provided competent and skilled representation" before plaintiffs obtained out-of-town specialists in civil rights action.

Appellate Information

• Decided 12/21/2000
• Published 12/21/2000

Judges

• WIENER and CARL E. STEWART, Circuit Judges:, Before WIENER and STEWART, Circuit Judges, and LITTLE, District Judge. 

Court

• United States Fifth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Theodore B. Olson,Douglas R. Cox (argued), Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Michael Evan Rosman, Center for Individual Rights, Washington, DC, for Hopwood and Carwell., John Cornyn, Atty. Gen., Brent Alan Benoit, Austin, TX, Beverly G. Reeves, Vinson & Elkins, H. Douglas Laycock, Austin, TX, Allan K. Van Fleet, Harry M. Reasoner, Betty Ruth Owens, Vinson & Elkins, John L. Hill, Jr., Locke, Liddell & Sapp, Houston, TX, Gregory Scott Coleman (argued), Julie Caruthers Parsley, Meredith Bishop Parenti, Austin, TX, Samuel Issacharoff, Columbia Law School, New York City, for State of Texas, Board of Regents of the Texas State University System, Faulkner, University of Texas School of Law, Sharlot, Johanson, Evans, Oxford, University of Texas at Austin, Riter, Clements, Sanchez, Hunt, Miller, Romero and Loeffler., Albert Henry Kauffman, Nina Perales, Mexican American Legal Defense & Educ., San Antonio, TX, Olatunde C. Johnson, NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, New York City, for Mexican American Bar Ass'n of Texas (MABAT), Thurgood Marshall Legal Society (TMLS), Hispanic Bar Ass'n of Austin (HBAA), Texas State Conference of the NAACP, Hispanic Law Alumni Ass'n of St. Mary's University of Law (HLAA), Houston Lawyers' Ass'n, American GI Forum of the Texas, San Antonio Black Lawyers' Ass'n, Olivas, Movimiento EstudiantilChicana/O De Aztlan (MECHA) at The University of Texas at Austin, Austin Black Lawyers' Ass'n, Latino Issues Forum, Whitley, Salazas, Mines, Enriquez and NAACP, Amicus Curiae., Mark L. Gross, U.S. Dept. of Justice, Civil Rights Div., Washington, DC, for United States, Amicus Curiae., Gregory S.C. Huffman, Thompson & Knight, Dallas, TX, for Texas Appleseed, Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, Ivy, Crews & Elliott, PC, Mithoff & Jacks, LLP, Aldave, Crews, Jacks, Lewis, Lowenberg, Moye', Patrick, Sanchez, Schurtman and Wilmot, Amicus Curiae.