Ronald L Burdge - National Attorney Fee Expert

Ron Burdge brings more than 40 years of experience in Attorney Fee Dispute Law to your side. With decades of study, research, writing, testimony, and actual courtroom experience with fee shifting motions and court hearings, he has the knowledge and experience to give you expert support and advice on reasonable hourly rates and time expended in litigation. He wrote the book on how to handle fee motions and has conducted national and local surveys of attorney fee rates for more than 25 years.
Expert Guidance for Reasonable Fees & Time

The Business of Law & Hourly Rates - It's What I Do

Widely recognized as an expert on Attorney Fee issues, for more than 40 years Mr. Burdge has studied attorney fee court decisions nationwide, authored dozens of articles and given over 100 Attorney Fee CLE seminars nationwide. His expert knowledge and experience covers all things related to attorney fee issues, and includes calculating hourly rates, fee shifting rules and practices, court fee decision principles and processes, and attorney fee auditing. His experience includes expert analyses, supporting evidence, and testimony before state legislatures and numerous state and federal courts and arbitration panels nationwide. Mr. Burdge is a long-time teaching faculty member of the National Association of Legal Fee Analysis (NALFA), the nation’s premier association of Legal Fee Experts. Since 1999 Mr Burdge has conducted a national survey on attorney fee rates and law office practices in Consumer Law and other areas of law, publishing the results in a series titled the United States Consumer Law Attorney Fee Survey Report. His published reports have been used by more than 400 Courts and Administrative Law Judges across the country and the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, the U.S. Departments of Justice and Labor, and JAMS ADR Service and American Arbitration Association arbitrators, to award over $58M in attorney fees. His research is relied his methodologies are proven and his research meticulous.
 For nearly 4 years Mr Burdge has published Friday on Fees, a weekly newsletter to over 2,000 attorneys on current attorney fee issues, including current hourly rates and attorney fee decisions and the principles and processes used by courts and arbitrators and administrative agencies to determine reasonable attorney fees across the country. Mr. Burdge has over four decades of trial and appellate work in state and federal courts nationwide. In his career he has handled virtually a wide range of civil, criminal, and administrative law cases, by court appointment and private engagement nationwide, including individual, mass and class action cases, along with over 100 attorney fee motions and appeals. As he puts it, "I've been where you are when there was no one else to help me. I know what that fight is like, and I know what it takes. Named a Super Lawyer in 2005 and repeatedly thereafter including 2025, Mr. Burdge authored and co authored numerous chapters of books and dozens of articles on the law and Attorney Fee issues published by the American Bar Association, Thomson Reuters - West Publishing, the National Consumer Law Center, several bar associations, and is a frequent author and speaker on attorney fee issues before national, state, and local bar associations and professional conferences.

Services

-Legal Attorney Fee Disputes: disagreements regarding the fees charged for legal services, including hourly rates, billing practices, overcharging, scope of legal services needed for legal work to be done- Determination of Reasonable Hourly Rates: the process of establishing fair hourly rate compensation for services rendered in legal services- Determination of Reasonable Number of Hours: the evaluation of the amount of time a lawyer bills for their services to assure that it is appropriate and justified- Determination of Reasonable Attorney Fees: the process of evaluating the hourly rates and time expended in a legal situation to establish a fair and reasonable compensation for an attorney for their services - Planning, Preparing, and Handling Attorney Fee Motions and Hearing: consulting and advising on appropriate relevant strategies, techniques, relevant evidence, and processes in attorney fee written motions and related oral hearings- Law Firm Timekeeper Procedures and policies: analyzing and advising to assure that accurate and timely recording of reasonable billable hours are recorded by attorneys and supporting staff, including refinement or creation of appropriate law firm policies- Law Firm Fees and Costs Recovery Procedures and Policies: analyzing and advising to assure that appropriate guidelines and practices are in place regarding how fees and costs may be collected, including structures, billing practices, and recovery processes- Attorney Fee Litigation: advising and consulting on disputes concerning the payment of legal fees, often involving hourly rates, time expended, tasks performed, retainer agreements, fee shifting cases, to determine a reasonable, ethical amount- Attorney Fee Billing Review and Auditing: the process of examining and evaluating the fees charged by lawyers and law firms for legal services to ensure that appropriate, consistent, and ethical billing practice standards are followed in a specific billing instance- Attorney Fee Ethics: advising and consulting on professional standards and regulations governing how lawyers may charge and handle legal fees for their services, including fairness, transparency, communications, fee structures, billing timeliness, costs of litigation, hourly rates, fee shifting, flat rates, contingency fee arrangements, and analyses of case complexity, time and labor involved, lawyer experience levels, customary fees, written agreement requirements, representations terms, billing confidentiality, handling sensitive protected financial information, and more.
In short, if it involves anything related Attorney Fees, we provide services related to advice and counseling. We know the way things work and the way they should work.
Reasonable hourly rates, reasonable time expended on a case, reasonable attorney fees, helping ordinary people, clients, lawyers, and judges know what they are and what they should be - that is what we do. That is what we have done for over 40 years. If you want to know more or need help, just call 937.581.0585 or write to RonaldBurdge@gmail.com. 
Need Help Now?Call: 937.5810585Email: RonaldBurdge@gmail.comWrite: Ronald Burdge, Esq.5839 Stone Lake DrDayton, Ohio 45429-6064

S.W., Ohio Attorney Sole Practitioner
Ron provided invaluable insight and helped me establish fair hourly rates in a hotly disputed case and then he testified clearly and convincingly, explaining the exact basis for his opinion on the accuracy and reasonableness of my hourly rate. I got it all!

K.S., Los Angeles, California,Managing Attorney
His opinion showed why we were right about our rates and his help on fee motion strategies and handling made it all so much easier. The Judge gave us everything we asked for - thanks, Ron!



A.M., Chicago AttorneyPartner in Firm
With testimony that was straight forward, calmly given, and with a sense of certainty backed up by his expertise on his opinions of our rates and total time, and his solid research backing it, he made all the difference in our federal court fee hearing.

What Other Attorneys Say

Join the community of attorneys who get the best results in fee motions and fee dispute resolution
I’m a paragraph. Drag me to add paragraph to your block, write your own text and edit me.

Ronald L Burdge CV (Resume)



Experts typically have 2 different resumes. One is called a "CV" and is typically written for lawyers and Judges; the other is simply called a "Resume." They both mean the same thing, so I only use one and give you my CV-Resume as follows:

Here is the link: https://tinyurl.com/BurdgeFeeExpertCV

or you can get a copy direct from Ron on request via email to: RonaldBurdge@gmail.



Navigating Attorney Fees Efficiently

Understanding Hourly Rates

Burdge Wrote the Book
One reviewer of Ron's book How to Plan, Prepare and Handle Attorney Fee Motions, on Amazon, called it "the Bible on Fee Motions." Another said "I wish I had this when I first started out."
We Know Fee Rates & Motions
We have the experience and knowledge designed to assist attorneys in knowing what hourly rates and processes are reasonable for them and assist preparing compelling fee motions and negotiating reasonable and fair hourly rates and fees. Our expert service guides you through effective strategies and methodologies for presenting your case.
Resources for Fair Hourly RAtes & Fees
Ron Burdge authored dozens of articles on fees and the United States Consumer Law Attorney Fee Survey Report, a national report on attorney business practices and rates, since 2000.

Fair Legal Pricing Strategies