American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression et al v. Sullivan

Filing 94

DECLARATION of Stephen E. Jenkins re 87 MOTION for Attorney Fees Plaintiffs' Application for Attorneys' Fees and Expenses by Alaska Library Association, American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska, Association of American Publishers, Inc., Book Blizzard LLC, Bosco's, Inc., Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, David & Melissa LLC, Donald R. Douglas, Entertainment Merchants Association, Freedom to Read Foundation. (Bamberger, Michael)

Michael A. Barnberger (pro hac vice)
SNR Denton US LLP
1221 Avenue of the Americas
New York, New York 10020
Phone: [phone]
[e-mail]

D. John McKay
Law Offices of D. John McKay
117 E. Cook Ave.
Anchorage AK 99501
Phone: [phone]
[e-mail]
AlaskaBar No. 7811117

Thomas Stenson
ACLU of Alaska Foundation
1057 W. Fireweed Lane - Suite 207
Anchorage, AK 99503
Phone: [phone]
[e-mail]
Alaska Bar No. 0808054
Attorneys for Plaintiffs

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
DISTRICT OF ALASKA
AMERICAN BOOKSELLERS FOUNDATION FOR FREE
EXPRESSION, g.
Plaintiffs,

JOHN BURNS, in his official capacity as ATTORNEY
GENERAL OF THE STATE OF ALASKA,
Defendant.

1

STEPHEN JENKINS
E.
declares as follows:
1.

I am the president of Ashby & Geddes, P.A., a law firm in Wilmington, Delaware.

I was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of the State of Delaware in 1982, and am also a
member of the bars of the United States District Court for the District of Delaware, the United

States Courts of Appeals for the Third Circuit and District of Columbia Circuit as well as the
United States Supreme Court.
2.

My regular practice includes a broad range of complex corporate litigation in the

Delaware state courts and a variety of federal courts. In pro bono representations, I have
concentrated on First Amendment matters, including the free speech rights of professors and the
free exercise rights of religious organizations.

3.

For many years, I have known and worked with Richard M. Zuckerman, Esq., of

the firm of SNR Denton US LLP (formerly known as Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP), in
complex litigation, in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the United
States District Court for the Southern District of New York (on an appeal from the United States
Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York), the Court of Chancery of the State of
Delaware, and the Delaware Supreme Court.
4.

Mr. Zuckerman is a seasoned, and in my view, excellent trial and appellate

lawyer. On the matters where I have had an opportunity to observe his work first-hand, I have
found Mr. Zuckerman to have a penetrating analytical mind and excellent writing skills. Among
other things, Mr. Zuckerman is one of the best lawyers I have ever met at being able to untangle
complex legal problems and present them to a court in a logical, lucid and orderly way.

5.

Because many corporations select Delaware as their state of incorporation, I have

had the pleasure of working with (and against) highly skilled counsel from across the United
States throughout my career. I am generally familiar with the billing rates of law firms engaged
in complex trial and appellate litigation, both in the Delaware courts, and in the federal appeals
courts. In addition, I have been appointed as a Special Master to assess the reasonableness of
legal fees in three different cases in the Delaware Court of Chancery and by the Chancery

Division in Chicago, Illinois in a fourth. All involved legal fees that former directors were
receiving pursuant to their statutory rights to advancement and indemnification; I was charged by
the various courts with reviewing those fees for reasonableness. In that connection, I have
reviewed probably hundreds of contested bill submitted by lawyers in Los Angeles, San
Francisco, Chicago, New York, Washington D.C. and London as well as many other cities. As a
result, I believe that I am generally familiar with the hourly rates charged by lawyers in those
cities.

6.

Based upon that experience, the billing rate of $550 per hour for Mr. Zuckerman

(the requested rate in this application, which I understand is less than Mr. Zuckerman's regular
billing rate) is greatly below what one would reasonably expect for an attorney of his status,
capabilities and experience in New York (where I would expect a billing rate of over $800 per
hour for him), and still quite a bit below what one would expect in most other large cities. Most
litigation attorneys with comparable expertise and experience and with national practices,
command a billing rate significantly higher than that being charged by Mr. Zuckerman here.
I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States that the foregoing is
true and correct to the best of my knowledge, information and belief.
Dated: July 20,201 1