American Civil Liberties Union/Eastern Missouri Fund v. Miller

The principal opinion condones the conduct of a lawyer in taking unto himself monies which he had agreed he would pay over to his employer. It frustrates the policy of federal statutes providing for the award of attorneys’ fees so as to make it possible for impecunious litigants to maintain statutory actions for the vindication of their civil rights. It does this by means of an unwarranted construction of state statutes and court rules designed to keep laypeople from making a profit from the law business and not at all to prevent nonprofit agencies which sponsor litigation in which they have…