California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from Caretakers v. City of Santa Cruz, H040762 (Cal. App. 2015):
(Ketchum, supra, 24 Cal.4th at p. 1139.) " 'The purpose of statutory attorney fee provisions is to provide financial incentives necessary for the private enforcement of important civil rights. [Citation.] If a potential defendant is too intimidating to the local bar or so replete with resources as to potentially overwhelm local counsel, or if the local plaintiffs' bar has not the resources to engage in complex litigation on a contingency-fee basis, the public interest in the prosecution of meritorious . . . cases requires that the financial incentives be adjusted to attract attorneys who are sufficient to the cause.' " (Center For Biological Diversity v. County of San Bernardino, supra, 188 Cal.App.4th at pp. 616-617.) When it is necessary for a plaintiff to engage non-local counsel, the trial court must consider the attorney's "home market rate" rather than simply the local market rate for counsel. (Id. at p. 619.)
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