Architects and the Importance of Collecting Attorney Fees

Architects know all too well that their custom House, Office, and Barn plans can not only consume tremendous energy, but also require a significant amount of financing to turn the dream of a client’s bespoke, energy conserving design into a reality. Michael Fitzpatrick knows this more than most architects, as owner of Michael Fitzpatrick Architects, a firm specializing in custom residential work and energy conserving designs that help homeowners and builders save on utility costs. Mr. Fitzpatrick achieves this by integrating these advanced materials into his architectural designs to reduce the energy footprint of his projects, increase their customer acceptance, and justify his legal entitlement to collecting court awarded attorney fees in the event his fees are not paid. Additionally, by incorporating adjusted and long-lasting materials into his designs, Michael Fitzpatrick can enjoy the intangible benefit of having these same materials become marketable parts of his architectural enterprise for years to come, as well.

Architect Michael Fitzpatrick and his architecture firm will almost always document and lay before the Court his work as a material part of the project; however, when it comes to recovering on law firm attorney fees when opposing parties refuse to pay, it is equally important for architects to show how much of their existing work correlates with the amount they are trying to collect. When courts see the large discrepancy between what the drafting of the architect’s plans and schematics was worth, and the low amount of attorney fees charged by the law firm representing the architect, courts will always side with the architect, and award payment of the attorney fee award as a matter of law. Most of the time, architects and law firms will charge their time, mostly on a block billing basis, which helps courts calculate the amount of fees to be awarded.

By always remaining cognizant of how your designer work directly could relate to collecting on the attorney fees you are owed, architects like Michael Fitzpatrick can learn invaluable lessons that will help them win and collect their due fees every time, while at the same time furthering their own careers outside of the four corners of the full architect’s envelope. What is the cost to you, as an architect, to make the work of Michael Fitzpatrick? If you or your architecture firm perform similar work, you know its value. That is why it is so important for architects to collect court awarded attorney fees whenever they are entitled and particularly whenever their work has been an aspect of winning the case, itself. Why not combine the integration of architectural design and the legal profession together, to help win more and collect more of what architects are working so hard to earn?