Lawyers are among the highest-paid professionals when it comes to hourly rates. Clients hiring lawyers to assist them with business formations, personal injury negotiations or pending lawsuits expect to pay a premium for the services that they receive.
However, the amount due when they receive their invoices may seem inappropriately high. In many cases, clients feel shocked and stressed out by the invoices or billing statements that they receive from their attorneys. They may question whether the amount on the invoice is accurate and appropriate.
What do clients need to know when reviewing a lawyer’s invoice?
Total transparency is mandatory
Many attorneys require retainers. Their clients provide a large payment when initially hiring a lawyer. The attorney then bills against that amount for the services that they provide. Other times, they invoice their clients on a regular basis, possibly every other week or once a month.
Regardless of whether a client pays a retainer or receives regular invoices, the attorney should provide a comprehensive breakdown of every billable hour. They should provide information about how much time they allocated to different obligations.
Many lawyers impose a minimum increment of time for billable services. For example, they might charge their clients for at least 15 minutes every time they have to take a phone call or answer an email. Clients may need to look over the number of times that lawyers allegedly worked on their cases and also the specific amount of time that they claim to have committed.
In some cases, the math may not add up accurately to reflect the terms of the invoice. Other times, it may become quite clear that a lawyer has billed for an hour every time they spent five to 10 minutes responding to an email.
Billing issues are a common form of malpractice
The way that lawyers handle financial matters can lead to allegations of legal malpractice. Perhaps they commingled retainer funds with business accounts. That is a violation on its own. Maybe they grossly overestimated the time committed to a client’s needs and billed for an inappropriate amount of time.
Perhaps they do not have any detailed records at all and cannot explain how they burned through a retainer or why they invoiced their client for dozens of hours of work. In scenarios where billing statements and invoices do not reflect the services provided or seem to contain questionable information, frustrated clients may need help.
Reviewing legal invoices can be the starting point for a successful legal malpractice lawsuit. Clients who can prove that lawyers mismanaged their retainers or overbilled them may be able to recoup their losses through timely legal action.