Breaking News: Lawyers May Be Unethical
The old, tired cliche in the news biz is that if a dog bites a man, it’s not really news. If a man bites a dog, THEN it’s really news.
So perhaps this should be filed in your Dog Bites Man file:
Can your lawyer collect 12 hours’ pay after working an eight-hour day?
A recent survey shows that about a third of U.S. lawyers have done it. Nearly half of all lawyers don’t see an ethical problem with it.
The American Bar Association and the Florida Bar condemn the practice, called “double billing.”
Some lawyers have another name for it: stealing.
Now get ready for the “nuance”:
But it may not be that simple.
Think of an ethical billing dilemma in these terms:
A lawyer is on an eight-hour flight from Tampa to Seattle. The lawyer’s client has agreed to pay for business travel. In flight, the lawyer reviews the file of another client and drafts several letters, which takes four hours.
Can the lawyer bill the first client for the eight-hour flight time and the second client for the four hours of case work?
An easier question would be “What’s black and white and red all over?” (The answer, as you all know is “A penguin that strayed into Central Park and was mugged.”) MORE:
The American Bar Association released an opinion in 1993 that said lawyers should never bill for hours that were not worked. Therefore, it would be unethical to bill for travel time and for work performed during that travel time.
A recent anonymous survey of 251 lawyers from across the country, however, shows that 46.6 percent of lawyers see nothing unethical about it. Of those lawyers who thought this was OK, nearly half said there was no need to tell the client about the practice, which many experts say is the real ethical problem.
William G. Ross, the law professor who conducted the billing survey, said most bar associations and most clients feel double billing is unethical. Even if a lawyer thinks the practice is acceptable, he’s not likely to put it in his Yellow Pages ad.
That’s the key on a practice that may or may not be unethical. Is it something someone is willing to a)admit up front and/or b)advertise? If the answer is no, it can be interpreted as being possibly sleazy. AND:
“As a practical matter, most attorneys are not going to go to their clients and ask if they could double bill,” Ross said. “The business relationship would probably end right there.”
Still, lawyers who do double bill are unlikely to get caught.
Or, they might follow the example of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales when asked a question. Just say, “I can’t recall..”
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8 Responses to “Breaking News: Lawyers May Be Unethical”
Well, Joe, you know what they say: 90% of lawyers give the others a bad name.
You know something, most people and professions are unethical.
Maybe that’s why some of them become politicians.
Sheesh, never thought I’d be defending lawyers but here goes.
When I take my car in for service, the service manager looks on a chart to see how long the service I need is supposed to take, and he bills me that amount for labor. But that isn’t necessarily how long it will take.
If it takes the mechanic longer than that, too bad for him because he’s only getting paid the billable hours (if that happens enough he needs to consider another line of work). Sure, complications happen. And sometimes things go smoother than usual. These things average out.
On the other hand, I had one mechanic who was an expert at finding the most efficient way to do things. Sometimes a task that the book said was 4 hours was only 2 for Gary. Gary still got paid 4 hours for the task, however. He was rewarded for his efficiency. The dealership was happy because that allowed them to do more work over the course of the day. The customer was happy because he got his car back earlier. And sometimes Gary would get paid for a 12 hour day when he only actually worked 8.
Now, I have no idea whether lawyers have a big book of “how many hours is X legal task supposed to take.” But I bet any law firm that has been in business very long has a very good idea of average time for common things like will writing and traffic ticket defending. And if some lawyer has a more efficient way to get out of a traffic ticket, allowing to process substantially more than his colleagues? More power to him!
Short Woman’s explanation is a good one. Too bad the reporter could not have included it in the original piece that ran in Florida!
What you’re describing is a bill-by-service arrangement. That’s different from a strict bill-by-time arrangement. Lawyers don’t estimate their time and stick to that estimate the way a mechanic might – they’re supposed to only bill for the time actually worked.
The reward for efficiency isn’t fraudulent billing (which Gary does if billed by time rather than service); it’s a better reputation which draws more clients.
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