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Attorney Fees Guide for New Jersey: This DocketMath article is under primary-source review; claim-level legal values and citations are unavailable until verification is complete.

Attorney Fees Guide for New Jersey

ANO-710 primary-verification pass executed 2026-04-27 against the file as built by ANO-786 (2026-04-22) and ANO-831 (2026-04-24). Verification scope: NJ Court Rule 1:21-7 (jsonapi), NJ Wage Theft Act amendments (PL19/c.212 PDF), OPRA 2024 amendments (PL24/c.16 PDF), federal cross-references (Cornell LII). NJ statute sections that live only inside Folio NXT (2A:15-59.1, 56:8-19, 10:5-27.1, 34:19-5) are flagged 'unsupported' within this sweep — not because the sections do not exist (they do), but because the verbatim section text cannot be pulled from a primary URL with the tools available. Their per-section _verification.tier remains 'needs-human' as previously stamped.

New Jersey American Rule but UNIQUE in expressly endorsing contingency-risk multipliers under Rendine (up to 2x typical). Walker v. Giuffre (2012) explicitly declined to follow federal Perdue/Dague restriction. Strong consumer (CFA) and wage (Wage Theft Act) fee-shifting. 2024 OPRA narrowing of prevailing-party definition.

42 U.S.C. § 1988 (Civil Rights Attorney's Fees)

Title VII (federal employment discrimination)

Americans with Disabilities Act

Fair Labor Standards Act

New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (LAD)

New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act

New Jersey Wage Payment Law (as amended by 2019 Wage Theft Act)

New Jersey Conscientious Employee Protection Act (CEPA)

New Jersey Open Public Records Act (OPRA)

New Jersey Frivolous Litigation Statute

New Jersey Offer of Judgment

In any matter where a client's claim for damages is based upon the alleged tortious conduct of another, including products liability claims and claims among family members that are subject to Part V of these Rules but excluding statutorily based discrimination and employment claims, and the client is not a subrogee, an attorney shall not contract for, charge, or collect a contingent fee in excess of the following limits: (1) 33 1/3% on the first $750,000 recovered; (2) 30% on the next $750,000 recovered; (3) 25% on the next $750,000 recovered; (4) 20% on the next $750,000; and (5) on all amounts recovered in excess of the above by application for reasonable fee in accordance with the provisions of paragraph (f) hereof; and (6) where the amount recovered is for the benefit of a client who was a minor or mentally incapacitated when the contingent fee arrangement was made, the foregoing limits shall apply, except that the fee on any amount recovered by settlement before empaneling of the jury or, in a bench trial, the earlier to occur of plaintiff's opening statement or the commencement of testimony of the first witness, shall not exceed 25%.

Attorney fees may be awarded to the prevailing party in specified circumstances under applicable statute.

where the amount recovered is for the benefit of a client who was a minor or mentally incapacitated when the contingent fee arrangement was made, the foregoing limits shall apply, except that the fee on any amount recovered by settlement [without trial] before empaneling of the jury or, in a bench trial, the earlier to occur of plaintiff's opening statement or the commencement of testimony of the first witness, shall not exceed 25%.

If at the conclusion of a matter an attorney considers the fee permitted by paragraph (c) to be inadequate, an application on written notice to the client may be made to the Assignment Judge or the designee of the Assignment Judge for the hearing and determining of a reasonable fee in light of all the circumstances.

In any matter where a client's claim for damages is based upon the alleged tortious conduct of another, including products liability claims and claims among family members that are subject to Part V of these Rules but excluding statutorily based discrimination and employment claims

Attorney Fees Guide for New Jersey

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