IRVING R. KAUFMAN, Chief Judge:
Attorneys litigating class actions have been variously described as “economically rational entrepreneurs,” champions of aggrieved individuals for whom a conventional lawsuit would not be feasible, and the recipients of a “golden harvest of fees.” These diverse perspectives, however,* are united by a common theme of which we are not unaware. The conduct of class action litigation is affected by the principles governing the compensation of the attorneys who bring them.
Today we decide, in a case of first impression, that the fees and costs of counsel may be assessed against the unclaimed portion of a class action judgment. Our conclusion is predicated on considerations of equity and sound policy and is sustained as well by longstanding precedent. To hold otherwise, we believe, would engender serious unfairness to claiming class members and their lawyers, without any corresponding benefit to absentees. Moreover, a contrary result would place enormous pressure on attorneys to settle at all costs, and would deter them from instituting meritorious suits.
I.
In February 1966, the Boeing Company decided to call for redemption its issue of 4'/2% Converted Subordinated Debentures, due July 1, 1980. Pursuant to the terms of the Indenture Agreement, Boeing published notices of its intention in two national newspapers. Boeing also mailed notices to those investors who had registered their debentures. Holders of $1,544,300 of unregistered debentures, however, did not learn of the call until after the conversion deadline of midnight, March 29,1966, set by Boeing.
At the stroke of twelve their right to convert $100 in principal of bonds into two shares of common stock expired. The two shares were worth $316.25 that day, but the unwitting bondholders were left only with the small consolation of having the right to redeem for $103.25, a figure fixed in the Indenture.
William Van Gemert and several other nonconverting bondholders brought a class action against Boeing, alleging that they had received inadequate and unreasonable notice of Boeing’s decision. The plaintiffs contended that Boeing was civilly liable under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934,1 the Securities Act of 1933,2 the Trust Indenture Act of 1939,3 and New York law.4
After a full trial, Judge Ryan dismissed the complaint, having held that Boeing was required to do no more than fulfill notice requirements stated in the Trust Indenture Agreement. On appeal, we decided that the New York law of contracts imposed an implied duty on Boeing — not satisfied by its newspaper advertisements and “eleventh hour” news release — to provide reasonable notice of its intention to redeem the debentures. Accordingly, we held that Boeing was liable despite its compliance with the notice provisions of the Indenture Agreement and remanded the case to Judge Ryan for a determination of damages. Van Gemert v. Boeing Co., 520 F.2d 1373, 1383 (2d Cir. 1975) [Van Gemert I].
Judge Ryan then proceeded to calculate damages based on the difference between the redemption price of the debentures and the value, as of March 29, 1966, of the [436]*436shares of common stock into which they could have been converted. We affirmed this ruling, but held, contrary to Judge Ryan, that the plaintiffs were entitled to prejudgment interest. Van Gemert v. Boeing Co., 553 F.2d 812, 813 (2d Cir. 1977) (Van Gemert II). Since $1,544,300 in principal amount of unregistered debentures had not been converted, it was a simple task to determine that the class members had suffered damages in the sum of $3,289,359.5
In the Van Gemert II appeal, the law firm of Kass, Goodkind, Wechsler and Gerstein, a member of the committee of attorneys for the plaintiffs,6 urged for the first time that members of the class who filed proper proofs of claim should be permitted to receive, on a pro rata basis, the unclaimed portion of the total damage award. Boeing responded in opposition that these funds should be returned to it. Without reaching a conclusion as to the ultimate disposition of unclaimed damages, we rejected the firm’s proposal. Id. at 815-16. Such a plan, we held, constituted a form of fluid class recovery, involving distribution of the unclaimed portion of the judgment to a “next-best” class in contravention of Eisen v. Carlisle & Jacquelin, 479 F.2d 1005 (2d Cir. 1973), vacated and remanded on other grounds, 417 U.S. 156, 94 S.Ct. 2140, 40 L.Ed.2d 732 (1974). We stated that the procedure suggested by the Kass firm would result in the expropriation of the claims of the silent class members and accordingly, create a windfall for those who filed claims. The panel also concluded that the proposal could not be justified on the ground that claiming class members would use a portion of the unclaimed funds to defray their legal expenses. This, it was decided, would require Boeing to pay indirectly for the legal expenses of successful litigants.
Upon a second remand to Judge Ryan for entry of judgment, he ordered that plaintiffs’ attorneys be awarded their fees, expenses and disbursements from the total amount of the judgment. He concluded that it was equitable for all class members — claiming and nonclaiming alike — to bear a pro rata share of the costs of producing the judgment in their favor.7 Boeing appealed this ruling as contrary to the mandate of Van Gemert II, contending that the attorneys should receive compensation only from the claimed portion of the judgment.
A panel of this court, in an opinion written by Judge Van Graafeiland, held that the claims of individual class members could not be treated collectively, as if they belonged to the class as a whole, and that because absent class members had not received the benefit of the attorneys’ labors, no charge or assessment may be made against their undistributed shares. Van Gemert v. Boeing Co., 573 F.2d 733, 736 (2d Cir. 1978) (Van Gemert III).8
Because of the significance of the issues in this case for the conduct of class action litigation, we decided to rehear the case en banc.9 We now affirm the judgment of the district court.
[437]*437II.
Any consideration of the propriety of awarding attorneys’ fees in the federal courts must begin with Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. v. Wilderness Society, 421 U.S. 240, 95 S.Ct. 1612, 44 L.Ed.2d 141 (1975). In that seminal case, the Supreme Court decided that, absent statutory authorization, the federal courts may not shift the costs of litigation from the winning to the losing party. The Alyeska Court noted, however, that there are two exceptions to this rule. First, there is inherent power in the courts to assess attorneys’ fees for the “willful disobedience of a court order,” or when a party has acted in bad faith, id. at 258-59, 95 S.Ct. at 1622. Second, historically, the federal courts have exercised an equitable power to allow attorneys’ fees and costs to be charged against a fund created, increased, or protected by successful 10 litigation. Id.
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IRVING R. KAUFMAN, Chief Judge:
Attorneys litigating class actions have been variously described as “economically rational entrepreneurs,” champions of aggrieved individuals for whom a conventional lawsuit would not be feasible, and the recipients of a “golden harvest of fees.” These diverse perspectives, however,* are united by a common theme of which we are not unaware. The conduct of class action litigation is affected by the principles governing the compensation of the attorneys who bring them.
Today we decide, in a case of first impression, that the fees and costs of counsel may be assessed against the unclaimed portion of a class action judgment. Our conclusion is predicated on considerations of equity and sound policy and is sustained as well by longstanding precedent. To hold otherwise, we believe, would engender serious unfairness to claiming class members and their lawyers, without any corresponding benefit to absentees. Moreover, a contrary result would place enormous pressure on attorneys to settle at all costs, and would deter them from instituting meritorious suits.
I.
In February 1966, the Boeing Company decided to call for redemption its issue of 4'/2% Converted Subordinated Debentures, due July 1, 1980. Pursuant to the terms of the Indenture Agreement, Boeing published notices of its intention in two national newspapers. Boeing also mailed notices to those investors who had registered their debentures. Holders of $1,544,300 of unregistered debentures, however, did not learn of the call until after the conversion deadline of midnight, March 29,1966, set by Boeing.
At the stroke of twelve their right to convert $100 in principal of bonds into two shares of common stock expired. The two shares were worth $316.25 that day, but the unwitting bondholders were left only with the small consolation of having the right to redeem for $103.25, a figure fixed in the Indenture.
William Van Gemert and several other nonconverting bondholders brought a class action against Boeing, alleging that they had received inadequate and unreasonable notice of Boeing’s decision. The plaintiffs contended that Boeing was civilly liable under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934,1 the Securities Act of 1933,2 the Trust Indenture Act of 1939,3 and New York law.4
After a full trial, Judge Ryan dismissed the complaint, having held that Boeing was required to do no more than fulfill notice requirements stated in the Trust Indenture Agreement. On appeal, we decided that the New York law of contracts imposed an implied duty on Boeing — not satisfied by its newspaper advertisements and “eleventh hour” news release — to provide reasonable notice of its intention to redeem the debentures. Accordingly, we held that Boeing was liable despite its compliance with the notice provisions of the Indenture Agreement and remanded the case to Judge Ryan for a determination of damages. Van Gemert v. Boeing Co., 520 F.2d 1373, 1383 (2d Cir. 1975) [Van Gemert I].
Judge Ryan then proceeded to calculate damages based on the difference between the redemption price of the debentures and the value, as of March 29, 1966, of the [436]*436shares of common stock into which they could have been converted. We affirmed this ruling, but held, contrary to Judge Ryan, that the plaintiffs were entitled to prejudgment interest. Van Gemert v. Boeing Co., 553 F.2d 812, 813 (2d Cir. 1977) (Van Gemert II). Since $1,544,300 in principal amount of unregistered debentures had not been converted, it was a simple task to determine that the class members had suffered damages in the sum of $3,289,359.5
In the Van Gemert II appeal, the law firm of Kass, Goodkind, Wechsler and Gerstein, a member of the committee of attorneys for the plaintiffs,6 urged for the first time that members of the class who filed proper proofs of claim should be permitted to receive, on a pro rata basis, the unclaimed portion of the total damage award. Boeing responded in opposition that these funds should be returned to it. Without reaching a conclusion as to the ultimate disposition of unclaimed damages, we rejected the firm’s proposal. Id. at 815-16. Such a plan, we held, constituted a form of fluid class recovery, involving distribution of the unclaimed portion of the judgment to a “next-best” class in contravention of Eisen v. Carlisle & Jacquelin, 479 F.2d 1005 (2d Cir. 1973), vacated and remanded on other grounds, 417 U.S. 156, 94 S.Ct. 2140, 40 L.Ed.2d 732 (1974). We stated that the procedure suggested by the Kass firm would result in the expropriation of the claims of the silent class members and accordingly, create a windfall for those who filed claims. The panel also concluded that the proposal could not be justified on the ground that claiming class members would use a portion of the unclaimed funds to defray their legal expenses. This, it was decided, would require Boeing to pay indirectly for the legal expenses of successful litigants.
Upon a second remand to Judge Ryan for entry of judgment, he ordered that plaintiffs’ attorneys be awarded their fees, expenses and disbursements from the total amount of the judgment. He concluded that it was equitable for all class members — claiming and nonclaiming alike — to bear a pro rata share of the costs of producing the judgment in their favor.7 Boeing appealed this ruling as contrary to the mandate of Van Gemert II, contending that the attorneys should receive compensation only from the claimed portion of the judgment.
A panel of this court, in an opinion written by Judge Van Graafeiland, held that the claims of individual class members could not be treated collectively, as if they belonged to the class as a whole, and that because absent class members had not received the benefit of the attorneys’ labors, no charge or assessment may be made against their undistributed shares. Van Gemert v. Boeing Co., 573 F.2d 733, 736 (2d Cir. 1978) (Van Gemert III).8
Because of the significance of the issues in this case for the conduct of class action litigation, we decided to rehear the case en banc.9 We now affirm the judgment of the district court.
[437]*437II.
Any consideration of the propriety of awarding attorneys’ fees in the federal courts must begin with Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. v. Wilderness Society, 421 U.S. 240, 95 S.Ct. 1612, 44 L.Ed.2d 141 (1975). In that seminal case, the Supreme Court decided that, absent statutory authorization, the federal courts may not shift the costs of litigation from the winning to the losing party. The Alyeska Court noted, however, that there are two exceptions to this rule. First, there is inherent power in the courts to assess attorneys’ fees for the “willful disobedience of a court order,” or when a party has acted in bad faith, id. at 258-59, 95 S.Ct. at 1622. Second, historically, the federal courts have exercised an equitable power to allow attorneys’ fees and costs to be charged against a fund created, increased, or protected by successful 10 litigation. Id. at 257-58, 95 S.Ct. 1612.
The application for the fees may be made by the plaintiffs themselves, Trustees v. Greenough, 105 U.S. 527, 26 L.Ed. 1157 (1881), on the ground that they have performed a service benefiting others similarly situated. But a plaintiff’s attorney may himself present a claim to compensation and reimbursement for expenses from the fund, on the theory that he has provided or preserved a benefit — the fund itself — and that the reasonable value of his services should be borne proportionately by all plaintiffs. Central R.R. & Banking Co. v. Pettus, 113 U.S. 116, 5 S.Ct. 387, 28 L.Ed. 915 (1885).
The paradigmatic common fund is an express trust, as in Greenough. Litigation can also “create” a fund, as when the assets of a debtor are brought within the reach of creditors, Pettus, supra. Nevertheless, the common fund doctrine has not been restricted to equitable actions in which the court exercised control over a “res”. In City of Detroit v. Grinnell Corp., 495 F.2d 448, 454, 468-69 (2d Cir. 1974), we awarded attorneys’ fees out of the settlement fund in a private antitrust class action suit. Similarly, since a money judgment is itself an identifiable asset on which the trial court may impose a charge, such judgments [438]*438have also been accorded common fund treatment, see, e. g., Union Cent. Life Ins. Co. v. Hamilton Steel Prods., Inc., 493 F.2d 76 (7th Cir. 1974); see generally, Dawson, Lawyers and Involuntary Clients in Public Interest Litigation, 88 Harv.L.Rev. 849, 920 (1975); Dawson, Lawyers and Involuntary Clients: Attorney Fees from Funds, 87 Harv.L.Rev. 1597, 1620-24 (1974).
In Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., supra, 421 U.S. at 265 n.39, 95 S.Ct. 1612, 1625, the Supreme Court established criteria for determining whether benefits derived from litigation could properly be treated as a common fund. The Court stated that the common fund rationale was ill-suited to public interest litigation involving nebulous benefits accruing to a vast class of people. Accordingly, a common benefit did not accrue from litigation over the environmental impact of the trans-Alaska pipeline. The Court declared:
In this Court’s common-fund and common-benefit decisions, the classes of beneficiaries were small in number and easily identifiable. The benefits could be traced with some accuracy, and there was reason for confidence that the costs could indeed be shifted with some exactitude to those benefiting. In this case, however, sophisticated economic analysis would be required to gauge the extent to which the general public, the supposed beneficiary, as distinguished from selected elements of it, would bear the costs. Id.
We believe that the judgment against Boeing constitutes a common fund within the meaning of Alyeska.11 The class of debenture holders here is comparable in size to that of the creditors in Pettus and the bondholders in Greenough. Moreover, the Van Gemert class is smaller than the class of 85,000 union members in Hall v. Cole, 412 U.S. 1, 93 S.Ct. 1943, 36 L.Ed.2d 702 (1973), and the 8,987 shareholders in Mills v. Electric Auto-Lite Co., 396 U.S. 375, 90 S.Ct. 616, 24 L.Ed.2d 593 (1970) — two cases cited with approval in Alyeska.12 Nor is the class membership here difficult to identify for the purposes of tracing the benefits accurately. Unlike the sprawling throng of potential beneficiaries in Alyeska —all those who would derive benefits from a pristine Alaskan wilderness — the beneficiaries of this action form a well-defined class, limited to those who failed to convert unregistered bonds of a specific issue of Boeing debentures. The names of the individual bondholders are not, to be sure, always ascertainable. But since each unconverted debenture is readily identifiable— and in fact bears an explicit number — it is quite evident that the damages owed to each plaintiff can be traced to each debenture with perfect accuracy. .Elementary arithmetic, not “sophisticated economic analysis”, is all that is required to determine the distribution of benefits. To calculate the amount of the judgment, it was necessary only to subtract the redemption price of each debenture from the value of the two shares of common stock to which it could have been converted. And it is equally simple to prorate the cost of the suit with complete exactitude so that each debenture holder’s recovery is taxed with the cost of vindicating his interest.13 Indeed, the [439]*439“identification” and “tracing” criteria are met more completely in the case before us than in either Hall or Mills, neither of which involved tangible economic benefits at all.
III.
The panel in Van Gemert III held that the common fund doctrine requires that expenses be assessed only against those who have actually claimed the fruits of the litigation, because no one else has benefited from the suit. We believe this construction of the concept of a “benefit” is too narrow and is not supported by the common fund case law. In Greenough, the Court noted that not every bondholder had filed claims against the fund, but nevertheless charged the entire fund with costs and fees. 105 U.S. at 529, 531, 26 L.Ed. 1157. In Sprague v. Ticonic National Bank, 307 U.S. 161, 59 S.Ct. 777, 83 L.Ed. 1184 (1939), the plaintiff sued individually to establish her right, as a beneficiary of a trust consisting of bonds held by a bank, to a lien on the proceeds from the sale of the bonds. In the process, she established the right of thirteen other beneficiaries to recover a share of the trust’s assets. The Court, in an opinion by Justice Frankfurter, allowed the plaintiff to recover her attorney’s fees out of those assets, although it was by no means clear that the other cestuis que trust would bring suit. If a plaintiff class-member is adjudicated to have an interest in a fund, he has benefited within the meaning of the common fund doctrine.14
The rationale for such a rule is evident, as the case before us indicates. A portion of the judgment won. by plaintiffs’ attorneys — at least $213 for each unconverted debenture — is due every member of the class. Each plaintiff has a present vested interest in the class recovery, and his share of the judgment may be received on request. It cannot be urged convincingly, then, that the absent plaintiffs have not received a benefit from the litigation.
Our conclusion that the district court properly charged attorneys’ fees against the shares of nonclaiming class members is far from heretical. At common law, an attorney’s lien attached to a judgment obtained for his client, as security for his fees and expenditures. See Restatement (2d) Agency § 464(e). Under this doctrine, which is as American as the “American Rule” against charging the losing party with the fees of his adversary, the attorney is himself entitled to have the judgment enforced and compensation paid, id. and comment n.; Falcone v. Hall, 98 U.S.App.D.C. 363, 235 F.2d 860 (1956). Indeed, in Pettus, Justice Harlan noted that under state law the lien of plaintiffs’ attor[440]*440ney could not be defeated by the successful purchase of the plaintiffs’ claims. 113 U.S. at 127-28, 5 S.Ct. 387. Thus, since the attorney’s right to his fee arose out of his creation of the judgment and not his client’s receipt of the proceeds, our interpretation of the common fund doctrine is in harmony with time-honored principles of the common law.15
In contrast to the “expropriation” feared in Van Gemert II, deducting fees from each plaintiff’s share in the judgment will not benefit some plaintiffs at the expense of others.16 Each plaintiff will receive only his pro rata share of the recovery, less attorneys’ fees, independent of the size of the unclaimed portion of the fund.17 This is not a “fluid recovery” case.
We believe, moreover, that a ruling for Boeing would be unfair to both the claiming plaintiffs and the class attorneys, and would deter lawyers from bringing meritorious lawsuits. In setting attorneys’ fees in class action litigation, courts must multiply the number of hours spent on the litigation by an appropriate hourly rate, and then adjust the fee to take into account the difficulty of the case, the attorney’s risk in undertaking it, and the quality of representation.18
If victorious attorneys were permitted to charge fees only against claiming class members, the standards evolved by the courts to ensure rationality and fairness in fee setting would go for nought, because the compensation the attorney received would be dependent on a purely fortuitous event. It would not suffice to adopt a rule that the attorney’s fee should be set at a fixed sum, calculated by considering the factors described above, but chargeable only against the recovery of those who claimed their shares. In suits in which a relatively small number of claimants come forward, the attorney’s fee would leave those claimants with no recovery at all — if, [441]*441in fact, sufficient funds were claimed to pay the entire fee. In the instant case, each debenture holder had an economically significant interest in the litigation — and yet deducting attorneys’ fees only from the claimed portion of the judgment may leave each plaintiff bereft of benefits.19 Such a rule would indeed make this a “lawyer’s lawsuit,” Van Gemert III, supra, 573 F.2d at 735.
On the other hand, if we were to protect the plaintiffs by limiting the attorney to a fixed percentage of the judgment actually claimed, the resulting fee would be entirely dependent on the number of plaintiffs who came forward. Considerations of the difficulty of the case, the quality of representation, and the hours spent by the attorney, would not determine the ultimate size of the fee. Nor can the attorney always determine whether it would be worthwhile for him to undertake the risks of litigation, for the number of plaintiffs who will come forward after judgment is often unpredictable. Of course, the risk that only a fraction of plaintiffs will claim is greatest if the individual claims are small.20 The percentage of class members who file claims, however, is not a function solely of the value of each plaintiff’s stake in the litigation. In this very case, although the judgment gives each class member the right to twice his original investment in damages, only 20% of the judgment has been claimed after months of diligent efforts to locate absentees. The Special Master appointed by Judge Ryan attributed the low response to “both the passage of 12 years and the fact that the debentures were unregistered.”21 If the number of claiming plaintiffs were to become the dominant — indeed determinátive — factor in setting appropriate attorneys’ fees, lawyers would be discouraged from bringing class suits, regardless the merits of the case.
Refusing to charge fees against the entire judgment fund would also put a high premium on settling cases. When a class action is settled, the attorney’s fee conventionally comes “off the top”. See, e. g., Blank v. Talley Industries, 390 F.Supp. 1, 3 (S.D.N.Y.1975) (Weinfeld, J.). The attorney is assured of the full amount of the fee that the court has found to be reasonable, regardless of whether some of his clients have failed to claim.22 To be sure, in determining fair compensation the judge may take into account the number of plaintiffs likely to claim, id., but the claimed portion of the fund does not place a ceiling on the fee. See, e. g., Voege v. Ackerman, 70 F.R.D. 693 (S.D.N.Y.1976) (Weinfeld, J.). If an attorney’s fee in a class action that goes to final judgment were so restricted, lawyers would be tempted to consider settling their clients’ claims for less than adequate sums. Fee awards should not be so structured as to encourage such conduct.23
Finally, our holding is perfectly consistent with the “American rule”. The rationale of that doctrine is that litigants should not be deterred from pursuing bona fide claims or defenses by fear that they will be burdened by the costs and attorneys’ fees of their successful adversary. See Fleischman Distilling Corp. v. Maier Brewing Co., 386 U.S. 714, 718, 87 S.Ct. 1404, 18 L.Ed.2d 475 (1967). Under today’s decision, however, the fees of the attorneys for the class will be deducted from the amount for which [442]*442Boeing has already been held liable. There is no “surcharge” on the defeated litigant.
Affirmed.