Billing Right from Day One: Ethical, Efficient, and Defensible Timekeeping for Today’s Lawyers (2026 Edition)

Fred earned his B.A. from the University of California, Davis in 1978 and his J.D. from Whittier College School of Law in 1981. He is admitted to practice in the State of California, all federal district courts in California, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court.

Fred has been recognized as a Northern California Super Lawyer in Environmental Law since 2004 and more recently in the fields of Business Litigation, Employment, and Labor Law. He is a member of the National Association of Legal Fee Analysis (NALFA), where he is recognized as a qualified attorney fee expert and described as bringing "real world billing review combined with over 40 years of trial experience."

Fred is an active NALFA faculty member and has served as a panelist on NALFA's CLE programs on attorney fee awards, hourly rate data, and fee-setting issues in complex litigation. He frequently shares his knowledge through speaking engagements and published articles, with a recent article appearing in the Environmental Claims Journal focused on disputes over attorneys' fees in environmental cases.

As an attorney who specialized in defending clients against environmental claims for nearly 30 years, Fred became so skilled in anticipating key issues and working with experts that clients began relying upon him to serve as an expert himself. In that role, he has rendered opinions on whether settlement values were reasonable, the fair rates for attorneys involved in multiple jurisdictions, and whether attorney or consultant services were reasonable and necessary. He has obtained defense verdicts in mass toxic torts and property contamination cases as well as plaintiff verdicts in the multi-million-dollar range and has successfully litigated environmental matters ranging from CERCLA to RCRA, as well as trademarks, unfair competition, and white-collar crimes. His career spans prior roles at Bronson, Bronson & McKinnon and Bassi Martini Edlin & Blum before co-founding the firm now known as Edlin Gallagher Huie + Blum.