When determining attorneys' fees under the lodestar approach in a civil rights case, does the court apply the forum rule?

When determining attorneys' fees under the lodestar approach, courts apply the forum rule. "According to the forum rule, courts should generally use the hourly rates employed in the district in which the reviewing court sits in calculating the presumptively reasonable fee." Simmons v. N.Y.C. Transit Auth., 575 F.3d 170, 174 (2d Cir. 2009) (internal quotation marks omitted); see also Gierlinger v. Gleason, 160 F.3d 858, 882 (2d Cir. 1998) (providing that, in calculating the lodestar amount, the rates used generally "are the market rates prevailing in the community for similar services by lawyers of reasonably comparable skill, experience, and reputation" (internal quotation marks omitted)). "[I]n order to receive an attorney's fee award based on higher out-of-district rates, a litigant must overcome a presumption in favor of the forum rule, by persuasively establishing that a reasonable client would have selected out-of-

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district counsel because doing so would likely (not just possibly) produce a substantially better net result." Simmons, 575 F.3d at 172; see also id. at 174 ("The court may apply an out-of-district rate (or some other rate, based on the aforementioned case-specific variables) if, in calculating the presumptively reasonable fee, it is clear that a reasonable, paying client would have paid those higher rates." (alterations and internal quotation marks omitted)). Indeed, the "touchstone" of the forum rule doctrine, as well as for awarding attorneys' fees in civil rights cases, is that "district courts should award fees just high enough to attract competent counsel." Id. at 176 (some internal quotation marks omitted) (quoting Arbor Hill Concerned Citizens Neighborhood Ass'n v. County of Albany, 593 F.3d 110, 121 (2d Cir. 2007), amended on other grounds, 522 F.3d 182 (2d Cir. 2008), and 575 F.3d 170 (2d Cir. 2009). Therefore, to rebut the presumption that the forum rule applies, the party seeking higher fees "must make a particularized showing, not only that the selection of out-of-district counsel was predicated on experience-based, objective factors, but also of the likelihood that use of in-district counsel would produce a substantially inferior result." Id. Relevant factors include whether counsel has "special expertise in litigating the particular

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