As much as I appreciate the work done by these lawyers, No Lawyer is worth $975 an hour. Especially in a profession where 30 minutes of actual work is generally billed out as an hour.
These are tax dollars going to these guys and although I relish in the idea that the City of Chicago is getting reamed for their stupidity and tyranny, ultimately it is the taxpayer that is the one who takes it on the chin.
If this money was coming out of the pockets of Rahm Emmanuel and his gang of Nazis, then I could care less, but when it is paid by the taxpayers, eventually that loss trickles down to all of us.
I expect this money will just be some of the “stimulus” trillions. The money was created out of thin air, so it is a tax on everyone holding dollars everywhere in the world.
I was in the trenches as a courthouse rat for many years. Appellate practice is a small sub-specialty that is relatively rare (and generally needs to be supported by a large firm) and the top sub-specialists like Cooper & Kirk demand top dollar because they win big cases, and win them decisively.
Judges do not award attorney's fees as a matter of routine - only when permitted by statute and only when the losing party has clearly persisted in a real loser of a case. The amount will probably be trimmed somewhat - but not much. And padding the hours, while engaged in by some, is frowned on at this level (especially with opposing counsel ready to flyspeck every tenth of an hour).
When the denizens of Chitown get tired of paying through the nose, they'll have to throw the bums out. Or move.