Authors’ Lawyers in Anthropic AI Settlement Ask for $300 Million

Lawyers representing a group of authors who sued Anthropic PBC over its AI training process are seeking 20% of the landmark $1.5 billion class-action settlement fund as attorneys’ fees.

In addition to the roughly $300 million in fees, the class counsel also asked for $1.97 million in unreimbursed litigation expenses and a $17-million reserve fund for future expenses, according to a motion filed Wednesday in the US District Court for the Northern District of California. The motion also asks for a service award of $50,000 for each of the three named plaintiffs in the case: Andrea Bartz, Charles Graeber, and Kirk Wallace Johnson.

In the Sept. 5 motion seeking preliminary approval of the settlement, the lawyers said they would seek a fee award that of as much as 25% of the settlement fund. Wednesday’s motion also said the 20% ask is a lower than the 25% benchmark for fee awards in the Ninth Circuit.

Lawyers from Susman Godfrey LLP and other firms representing the plaintiffs spent more than 18,000 hours on the case, according to the motion, which argues the time spent was reasonable in a complex case taken on contingent-fee basis against a well-funded and sophisticated defendant. Class counsel from Susman Godfrey and Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein LLP would split 75% of the fees award.

Judge William Alsup has previously been dubious about how the terms of the settlement—the largest publicly disclosed award in a US copyright action—are being worked out. Before granting preliminary approval in September, he expressed skepticism over roping in more lawyers to work out the terms of the settlement, saying there would “not be one penny paid to any lawyer except class counsel,” according to a hearing transcript.

In Wednesday’s motion, the class’ attorneys said coordination counsel for the publishers and author groups from Edelson PC, and Oppenheim & Zebrak LLP, and Cowan Debaets Abrahams & Sheppard LLP helped boost the size of the works list covered by the settlement and would receive the remaining 25% of the fees.

Anthropic is represented by Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP, Cooley LLP, Latham & Watkins LLP, Lex Lumina LLP, and Morrison & Foerster LLP.

The case is Bartz v. Anthropic PBC, N.D. Cal., No. 3:24-cv-5417, motion filed 12/3/25.