This is a reprint from the September 9, 2014 Mongoose newsletter.
I just had 3 grueling non stop days in the office – totaled my hours for those 3 days – 18.5. I must be doing something wrong.
I know few attorneys who work harder than my own Christina Tillinger, and she averages about 7.25 hours billed per day unless there is a trial or long mediation. I usually bill fewer hours than that.
I have written ten simple rules for honest billing that I have now adopted as my law firm’s policy. Click here to read all ten rules. Here are a few of these ten rules:
2. Bill actual time spent and round up only a little. If you spend 3 minutes on a phone call, bill 0.10 instead of 0.25. If you literally were on the phone for 30 seconds with the client, do not bill for the call at all.
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7. Unless you are in trial or a mediation that goes to midnight, your total hours in a day cannot exceed 10.0 without a written explanation for the firm manager of how you were able to bill those many hours in one day.
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9. False billing is wrong and unethical and will get you fired and reported to the State Bar by this law firm. We want to make money only by fairly billing our clients.
10. A staff member who sees something questionable about a lawyer’s billing must bring it to the attention of the law firm’s management.
Click here to read all of these rules on “Honest Billing” and you can count how many Ms. Franklin followed when she billed the county on CPS cases.