40.23 Attorneys’ Time and Expense Records
It is ORDERED:
1.	Maintenance of Contemporaneous Records. All counsel shall keep a daily record of their time spent and expenses incurred in connection with this litigation, indicating with specificity the hours, location, and particular activity (such as “conduct of deposition of A.B.”). The failure to maintain such records will be grounds for denying court-awarded attorney fees, as will an insufficient description of the activity (such as “research” or “review of correspondence”).1
2.	Filing.2 By the fifteenth day of each month, each ﬁrm that may seek an award (or approval) of a fee by the court shall ﬁle [under seal with the clerk] [with lead counsel or a budget/record/compensation committee established by lead counsel and the court] a report summarizing, according to each separate activity, the time and expenses spent by its members or associates during the preceding month (and the ordinary billing rates of such attorneys in effect during the month) and the accumulated total of the firm’s time, hourly rates, and expenses to date. [Lead Counsel shall ﬁle under seal with the clerk by the last day of the month a report summarizing, for all participating counsel, such time and expenses reports, arranged according to the particular activities.]

Dated: 												
									United States District Judge

Notes:
	1.	The court may wish to include more specific guidelines concerning staffing, hourly rates, reimbursable expenses, and required documentation. See supra sections 14.21–14.22. 
	2.	In cases in which the court may award fees, time and expense records should ordinarily be submitted through lead counsel, if one has been appointed, in order to assist lead counsel in monitoring the activities of cocounsel and in preparing a single, consolidated report for ﬁling with the court. See supra section 14.212.