About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

B-161952 1 (1978-06-12)

handle is hein.gao/gaobadgcp0001 and id is 1 raw text is: t7§ .THE COMPTROLLEn RENERAL 0N (.r *OF TH UNITED STATE :waeMINavoN, D. C. 2al5ea FILE: ,-161952 DATE: J,ne 12, 1$78 MATTER OF: Attorneys - Court Admission Fees DIGEST: Costs of fees for admission to practice before a Federal court incurred by attorneys employed by a Government agency may not be reimbured from appropriated funds. Privilege of practicing before a particular court is one personal to the attorney and is in the nature of an expense nec- essary to qualify for the performance of official duties. 47 Comp. Gen. 116 (1967) is sustained. This decision is in response to a request by the General Counsel, National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), for reconsideration of our decision in 47 Comp. Can. 116 (1967). That decision denied reimbursement to a NLRB attorney of the fee he -had pAid in order to practice before the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. We reasoned that the privilege to practice before a particular court is personal to the individual, normally is his for life, and is a matter of further qualifying himself to represent th Government before the Federal courts. In asking for reccnsideration the General Counsel believes it is particularly urflir to require Government attorneys to pay their own fees in viEw of the lack of control they have in being required to appear ir a particular court'which requires the fee payment. The General Counsel contrasts this with private practice where, he reports, attorneys are reimbursed ,'ltimately by their clients. The General Counsel bclieves that the subject court admissions are of very limited value to an attorney after leaving the Board, and thurefore should be viewed as primarily for the Government's benefit. Fuither, he believes that it is unfair to characterize admission fees as nominal when it is possible for an Appellate Court Branch attorney to incur out-of-pocket admission fee expenses approaching $200 within a three-year period. The controlling consideration which required this Office to reject reimbursement of admission fees which the Federal courts require to be paid by attorneys was that an employee bears the duty of qualifying himself for the performance of his official duties. These fees are considered to be nominal in amount and seem clearly I . I

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most