N.D. Fla. Loc. R. 54.1

(A) Bifurcated Procedure. A party who seeks an award of attorney’s fees must first

move for a determination of the party’s entitlement to a fee award and may move for

a determination of the amount of an award only after the Court determines the

party’s entitlement to an award. Local Rule 7.1, including the requirement for the

attorneys to confer in a good-faith effort to resolve the dispute, applies in full.

(B) Deadline for an Entitlement Motion. The deadline for moving for a determination

of entitlement is 14 days after the entry of the judgment or, if there is no judgment,

14 days after the case is closed. An appeal does not extend the deadline unless the

Court so orders.

(C) Maintaining Time Records. No award of attorney’s fees will be made based in

whole or part on time devoted to a case unless the attorney or other timekeeper made

a contemporaneous, detailed record of the time to the nearest tenth hour. A detailed

record must provide enough information to allow the Court to evaluate

reasonableness; an entry like “research” or “conference” without a description of the

subject will not do.

(D) Filing and Disclosing Time Records. Unless an assigned judge orders otherwise,

the time records must not be filed with the Clerk until necessary for the

determination of a fee motion. But a party must promptly disclose to another

party—on a request made at any time—the total number of hours that have been

devoted to the case by the party’s attorneys and other timekeepers through the end of

the month preceding the request.

(E) Required Filings in Support of a Motion to Determine the Fee Amount. If the

Court determines that a party is entitled to a fee award, the party must file within 30

days:

(1) A declaration setting out the time devoted to the case by date and task,

specifically identifying the timekeeper and the timekeeper’s claimed hourly

rate. The declaration must include sufficient detail to allow a determination of

reasonableness. And the declaration must include sufficient detail to allow the

maximum feasible separation of time devoted to matters that are and are not

compensable and matters on which the party did and did not prevail.

(2) A declaration of an independent attorney addressing the reasonableness of the

claimed time and rates.

(F) Required Filings in Opposition to a Motion to Determine the Fee Amount. A

party who opposes a motion to determine the fee amount must file within 30 days

after the motion is served a memorandum specifically identifying any objection to

the claimed amount. If the party objects to a timekeeper’s claimed hourly rate, the

memorandum must set out the rate that the party asserts is reasonable. If the party

asserts that hours should be reduced or not compensated, the memorandum must

identify the hours or otherwise specifically describe the proposed reduction. The

memorandum must set out the fee award the party asserts would be reasonable—and

by doing so the party will not be deemed to waive the party’s objection that fees

should not be awarded at all.

(G) Additional Conference and Notice. After a party files a memorandum in opposition

to the motion to determine the fee amount, the attorneys must confer again in a

good-faith effort to resolve the dispute—on amount if not also on entitlement. The

parties must file a notice of whether they have reached any agreement. The deadline

for the notice is 14 days after the memorandum in opposition was filed.