Lawyer Question

[PRC]

Do Lawyers usually bill for the time it takes them to figure out how much time they spent on a matter?

For example... you spend 20 hours on a matter.  It takes you 1 hour to calculate that you spent 20 hours on the matter. Do you then bill the client for 21 hours?

[Malthus]

Do Lawyers usually bill for the time it takes them to figure out how much time they spent on a matter?

For example... you spend 20 hours on a matter.  It takes you 1 hour to calculate that you spent 20 hours on the matter. Do you then bill the client for 21 hours?

No.

[PRC]

Thanks, that was my gut feeling.

[Malthus]

Thanks, that was my gut feeling.

What brings this question to mind?

[crazy canuck]

Do Lawyers usually bill for the time it takes them to figure out how much time they spent on a matter?

For example... you spend 20 hours on a matter.  It takes you 1 hour to calculate that you spent 20 hours on the matter. Do you then bill the client for 21 hours?

Why do you think it takes any time to think about how much time it took to deal with a matter?  Typically lawyers write down their time as they do it (either on a pad and their secretaries enter it into an accounting system or the lawyers write the time directly into the system).  It takes seconds to do.

[DGuller]

Don't you then have to add up all those numbers that you wrote down?  I can see it taking an hour for an average lawyer.

[PRC]

Yeah, essentially I was just curious.  I know there are programs like PC Law that will handle much of the computing but on larger matters I imagine it could take a fair amount of time to figure out.

[Barrister]

I don't know where CC gets his "seconds" estimate - I wasted far too much time putting together bills in private practice.

[ulmont]

Don't you then have to add up all those numbers that you wrote down?  I can see it taking an hour for an average lawyer.

It takes me 2-3 hours a month to figure out what the hell I meant when I scribbled down "Bob" on the pad and convert it into bill-ese.

[alfred russel]

Do Lawyers usually bill for the time it takes them to figure out how much time they spent on a matter?

For example... you spend 20 hours on a matter.  It takes you 1 hour to calculate that you spent 20 hours on the matter. Do you then bill the client for 21 hours?

I used to do that, under a vague category such as "job administration." But that was on consulting projects that would take at a minimum hundreds of hours.

[Malthus]

Yeah, it takes a certain amount of time to do dockets (that is, translate my chicken-scratchings during the day into coherent sounding docket entries, and either dictate these or enter them).

I'd not dream of charging anyone for it, though. That's part of the administrative duties that make up unbillable time.

[HVC]

To the lawyers here, if you were working on two or more simlar cases in which much of the research you did applied to both cases would you bill them each for the full amount, or split it. ie if it took you 20 hours of work would you charge each client 10 hours or 20?

[Barrister]

To the lawyers here, if you were working on two or more simlar cases in which much of the research you did applied to both cases would you bill them each for the full amount, or split it. ie if it took you 20 hours of work would you charge each client 10 hours or 20?

That's easy: you'd bill it to the client with the bigger retainer. 

Billing twice for the same work however is a big no-no amongst lawyers.  It's called double-billing. 

[DGuller]

Don't you then have to add up all those numbers that you wrote down?  I can see it taking an hour for an average lawyer.

It takes me 2-3 hours a month to figure out what the hell I meant when I scribbled down "Bob" on the pad and convert it into bill-ese.

So much for my attempt to insult the legal field. 

[ulmont]

HVC: you split the time.

DGuller: there are standardized codes for the work being done, plus a narrative decription that has to be entered for each client / code combination for each day's work.  It's a pain in the ass.