In every profession there are ethical and moral representatives, and unfortunately those who taint their own industry. With all the attorney jokes, and off color remarks people make about lawyers here is just one reason they earned it…

 

It is called “Block Billing”.

 

This is a form of invoicing your own law firm uses against you, and trust me they don’t disclose it without a fight. Rather than giving a client an item by item break down of their billable time, the attorney, the billing specialist, and the billing partner, present a laundry list of work done with a combined total for hours. The result is that you don’t know whether a phone call between attorneys took 30 seconds or 30 minutes. Did research on the case take 45 minutes or was that time spent photocopying. With “block billing” they combine it all together so they don’t have to justify to their own client how they allotted their billable time. They come up with a total number of hours and multiply it by the hourly rate of the attorneys (and did the attorneys really do the photocopying…of course not).

 

On the surface most people see the conflict because the clients best interests are to be paramount and before that of the firm. But then again is Santa and the Easter Bunny real? Law firms who have a “block billing” policy have their best interests far and above those of their clients.  Some of these firms actually operate under the principle of building in a fudge factor knowing it will be negotiated out later for a complaining client.

 

Take this one step further, and you need to litigate or arbitrate this blatant abuse of billing. There is no back up evidence; the Arbitrator relies on the attorney’s for future work; and now you have to get a law firm to fight a law firm. Head this off before it happens!

 

In Florida “block billing” is still legal, though there are many cases where the Florida State Bar has taken action against law firms that use this manner of billing. The system is broken when a law firm will not give back up billing information to its client, though they have an ethical and moral obligation to do so, and the law does not obligate them to provide the details.

 

If you need legal representation, ask the firm you are considering if they “block bill”. If “yes”, find another firm. If they say “no”, get it in writing with confirmation in their representation agreement that you are entitled to “time sheets” or “docket time” for each attorney working on your file and for each individual billable action they take.

 

If you already have legal representation, ask if you can have the back-up time sheets. If they baulk at your request start shopping for a new firm before you really need one.

 

By simply asking about “block billing” you will save yourself thousands and or maybe hundreds of thousands of dollars. After all, would you rather spend your money or let someone spend it for you?