Legal Bill Audit Blog

Many law firms today are moving away from hourly billing and going to "alternative fee arrangements" in which clients pay a single fee.  While this certainly eliminate disputes over hourly billing issues, many types of alternative fee arrangements also have the potential for disputes. That is, while alternative fee arrangements seem simple, they are not always as simple...

According to the Comments to Rule 1.5 in the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct (6th ed.), here are some ethical “no-no’s” that lawyers can be disciplined for when it comes to billing for their services: Bill Padding Double Billing Fees for Doing Nothing Fees for Doing Very Little Doing Way Too Much Doing Remedial Work Too...

Does deception in legal billing invariably lead to deception in other areas? The answer to that question may be “yes” according to Prof. Lisa Lehman. In her law review article, Lying to Clients, 138 U. Pa. L. Rev. 659, she writes how easy it can be for one deception to lead to others. If an attorney “accepts the...

In shopping around for a new lawyer, you may have noticed that many lawyers proudly advertise that they have been awarded the "Super Lawyer" designation.  As a matter of fact, with each new listing of Super Lawyers, more and more lawyers in the U.S. are being named Super Lawyers.  In fact, it might seem that before too...

So, how did lawyers bill for their services before clocks were invented? Did early Roman lawyers use sundials to keep track of their time?  Hardly. History records that early lawyers (“advocates”) in the Roman Empire (as well as in ancient Greece) were expected to represent their fellow citizens in legal matters for free. Such service was...

Attorney Douglas Richmond has written several scholarly articles on the subjects of attorney ethics and legal billing.   In Professional Responsibilities of Law Firm Associates, 45 Brandeis L. J. 199 (Winter 2007), Richmond expresses the view that attorneys who overbill their clients often will rationalize away their deceptions to clients that what they are doing is not stealing, but is “borrowing.” ...