A federal judge in Rochester has slashed fee requests of four law firms—reducing one firm’s by 75 percent—calling some of the requests excessive and finding it “troublesome” that substantial work was performed by an out-of-state firm that charged much higher rates.

Western District Judge David Larimer (See Profile) examined the fee requests of Leclair Korona Giordano Cole in Rochester; Scheper Kim & Harris in Los Angeles; Kobre & Kim in Manhattan; and Hiscock & Barclay in Syracuse and Buffalo.