Attorney fees. You hate for your client to pay them; you love getting them. Based on analysis of 1,231 FINRA cases with attorney fee awards from 2015-2024, we've uncovered significant trends.
Understanding these trends is critical for litigation budgeting, settlement negotiations, and assessing the risk-reward calculus of pursuing fee awards in arbitration.
The Big Picture: Attorney Fees Are Rising
Mean Attorney Fee Awards by Year (2015-2024)
Note: Years grouped by award date to capture all awards issued through December 31, 2024. Standard deviation bands show the wide variability in individual awards.
The chart reveals several key patterns:
- 2022 Spike: Mean attorney fee awards jumped to $247,519 in 2022—the highest in the decade—before settling back to $168,580 in 2024. This spike included one extraordinary case (21-02234) with a $5.3 million attorney fee award, but even excluding this outlier, the 2022 mean ($195k) remained nearly double the 2021 level. Importantly, the median also doubled from $33k (2021) to $70k (2022), confirming a genuine distribution shift, not just statistical noise from extreme cases.
- 2020 Anomaly: The pandemic year saw dramatically lower fee awards ($45,473 mean), likely due to case type mix and settlement patterns
- Wide Variability: The standard deviation bands are enormous, reflecting that attorney fee awards vary dramatically from case to case
- Overall Upward Trend: Despite year-to-year fluctuations, there's a clear upward trajectory from the $95-127k range (2015-2016) to the $168k range (2023-2024)
Year-by-Year Breakdown: Follow the Money
Attorney Fee Award Statistics by Year (2015-2024)
Year | Cases | Mean | Median | Total Fees | Std Dev | Min | Max |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 183 | $95,514 | $20,000 | $17.5M | $352,982 | $1 | $4.6M |
| 2016 | 163 | $127,093 | $15,000 | $20.7M | $449,791 | $1 | $4.5M |
| 2017 | 145 | $73,101 | $16,013 | $10.6M | $175,039 | $1 | $1.8M |
| 2018 | 140 | $116,691 | $21,023 | $16.3M | $404,517 | $1 | $3.9M |
| 2019 | 145 | $100,201 | $23,000 | $14.5M | $190,661 | $1 | $1.5M |
| 2020 | 85 | $45,473 | $10,000 | $3.9M | $107,392 | $500 | $819K |
| 2021 | 99 | $98,359 | $32,889 | $9.7M | $202,575 | $2,000 | $1.3M |
| 2022 | 97 | $247,519 | $69,673 | $24.0M | $651,208 | $1,000 | $5.3M |
| 2023 | 81 | $167,134 | $24,842 | $13.5M | $465,617 | $1 | $3.5M |
| 2024 | 89 | $168,580 | $25,000 | $15.0M | $344,952 | $1 | $2.0M |
Key observations:
- Total fees awarded: $145+ million in attorney fees awarded across these 1,231 cases over 10 years
- Median vs. Mean: Medians are consistently far lower than means, indicating that a small number of very large awards pull the average up significantly
- Recent median increases: The median award has risen from $10-23k (2015-2020) to $25-70k (2021-2024), suggesting fee awards are increasing across the board, not just at the top
Case Type Matters: Customer vs. Intra-Industry Disputes
The 2022 spike was heavily driven by customer cases, which saw extraordinary increases:
Attorney Fee Awards by Dispute Type (2020-2024)
Year | Customer Cases | Customer Mean | Employment/Intra-Industry Cases | Employment Mean |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 18 | $49,830 | 67 | $44,302 |
| 2021 | 34 | $120,912 | 65 | $86,563 |
| 2022 | 33 | $454,924 | 64 | $140,575 |
| 2023 | 29 | $167,079 | 52 | $167,165 |
| 2024 | 29 | $144,546 | 60 | $180,197 |
Key findings:
2022 customer case surge: Customer dispute attorney fee awards averaged $455k in 2022—nearly 4x the 2021 level ($121k). This was driven by several large customer cases, including the record-setting $5.3M award in case 21-02234.
Customer cases normalized: Customer case fee awards dropped back to $144-167k averages in 2023-2024, closer to historical norms.
Employment/intra-industry cases stayed elevated: Interestingly, employment and member-vs-member cases showed a different pattern—steady increases from $87k (2021) to $180k (2024), without the dramatic 2022 spike seen in customer cases.
Practical Implications for FINRA Arbitration Strategy
These trends have real-world implications for how attorneys and parties approach FINRA arbitration:
1. Budget for Higher Fees
If recent trends continue, expect to incur—and potentially recover—higher attorney fees than in the past. The median award of $25,000 in 2024 (up from $10-15k in the mid-2010s) suggests arbitrators are more willing to award meaningful fee recoveries.
2. Document Fee Requests Carefully
With the wide range of awards, the quality of your fee documentation matters enormously. Detailed time records, task descriptions, and hourly rate justifications can mean the difference between a $10,000 award and a $100,000 award.
3. Consider Fee Awards in Settlement Negotiations
The potential for a $25-170k fee award (median to mean in 2024) changes the settlement calculus for both sides. Claimants should factor in potential fee recovery; respondents should consider fee exposure.
4. Arbitrator Selection Considerations
Some arbitrators are more receptive to attorney fee awards than others. Our arbitrator research tools help you identify panels with track records of granting (or denying) substantial fee awards.
5. Case Type Matters
The data includes all case types with fee awards. Intra-industry disputes (member-vs-member, firm-vs-rep) often see higher fee awards than customer cases. Understand your case type's typical award patterns.
Limitations: What the Data Doesn't Tell Us
This analysis has important limitations:
Not All Cases: Only ~15% of FINRA arbitration awards include attorney fee awards. Most cases don't result in fee awards—either because they weren't requested, the arbitrators denied them, or the case settled.
Selection Bias: Cases that reach final awards with fee awards may be systematically different from cases that settle or don't request fees.
✅ Looking Ahead: 2025 Trends
Early data from 2025 suggests the upward trend may continue, with mean fee awards potentially exceeding $185,000. However, we'll wait for a full year of data before drawing conclusions. Stay tuned for our 2025 analysis in early 2026.
Methodology & Data Notes
Data Source: FINRA arbitration awards database, accessed via the ArbitratorX platform
Sample: 1,231 cases with attorney fee awards issued between January 1, 2015 and December 31, 2024
Grouping: Cases grouped by award date to capture awards actually issued in each calendar year
Exclusions:
- Cases with attorney fee awards exceeding $10 million (2 cases removed as likely data errors)
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Methodology notes: This analysis uses historical award data and may not predict future fee awards. Attorney fee awards are highly discretionary and depend on case-specific facts, applicable law, arbitrator composition, and quality of fee documentation. Individual results will vary. This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.