Using Outsourced Legal Staff
The following is an excerpt from my book, Red Flags In Legal Bills: What Signals Are Attorneys Sending? Related to the issue of “transient billers” who are likely employees of the firm, there is the use of temporary or contract workers from outside the firm. If it is suspected that an outside temporary or contract attorney […]
Googling To Find Out If Your Attorney Used Form Documents
I used to belong to a practice section of my state bar that I called the “Does Anyone Have a Form I Could Use” practice section. I call the practice section by this name because most of the posts on the section listserve were from attorneys asking other attorneys if anyone has a particular form […]
The Importance of Agreeing On Legal Staff To Be Used
In the introduction to The Art Of Hiring The Right Lawyer & Negotiating A Fee Agreement That Will Save On Legal Costs, I note that the book was written especially for small business or individual clients of lawyers. As I point out, these types of clients typically do not have the leverage that large corporations […]
On Using and Billing for “Re-cycled Work Product” “A lawyer who is able to reuse old work product has not re-earned the hours previously billed.” ABA Standing Comm. on Ethics & Professional Responsibility Formal Op. 93-379 (1993) In reviewing legal bills and speaking at CLE seminars to attorneys, I have found that too many attorneys lack a […]
The Consequences for Attorneys Who “Knowingly” or “Negligently” Engaging in Improper Billing
Whenever I do a seminar for attorneys on ethics, I always tell them that there are three things they should especially avoid doing: drugs, sex with a client, and messing with a client’s money. I tell them that if they are caught doing one of these three things, they will find that harsher discipline will […]