A lateral move to a firm with roots in a more expensive city doesn’t mean a judge is going to award that lawyer a bump in attorney fees in litigation, even if some of the work then gets done in that pricier hub, a recent court ruling shows.

Ruling on a fee request by Arent Fox after a $130,000 settlement with the U.S. government on behalf of a group of Florida landowners, U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge Patricia Campbell-Smith held that the firm deserves attorney fees based on the St. Louis market rates the lead attorney initially charged while working out of St. Louis-based Lathrop Gage’s headquarters. She rejected the argument that he should earn the higher rates charged by Washington, D.C.-based Arent Fox after the lawyer switched to that firm’s St. Louis office. Arent Fox had sought more than $1.1 million in fees plus more than $14,000 in costs.

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