In-House Counsel

Contain legal costs: Communicate goals

By Hanna

I hate legal bills.  Reviewing them is one of my least favorite jobs.  Lawyers bill based on time and material.  Time is measured in six minute increments, in tenths of an hour.  It’s ugly.

This past week I reviewed a bill and found some “spread billing”.  There were three closely related files, essentially one matter in three different flavors.  I got billed two tenths of an hour on each file (a total of 36 minutes) for someone reading a one page letter that applied equally each file.  I simply don’t believe the letter was read three times.  I also don’t believe it took more than a half hour to read a one-pager.  A fifth grader could read it in less time.  It was a “for your information” type letter.  Yet this is the type of thing I continue to find and why I hate legal bills.

A tenth of an hour might sound nit pick.  But let me put it in perspective for you.  Many lawyers charge more for one hour of their time than some people make in a week.  I’m not saying they’re undeserving of their rates, but I am saying that I expect fair value for what they do and no billing hanky-panky.

If I hate legal bills, I can only imagine how much non-lawyers hate them.

With belt tightening being on everyone’s mind, I’m going to use the next few blog postings to offer some suggestions for containing legal costs.

Today’s tip: communicate your business goal clearly.

Let’s say you’re having a contract reviewed.  Don’t assume your lawyer knows what you’re trying to get out of the deal.  The contract is not necessarily self explanatory.  It could be missing some deal points and unless you tell them how you think it’s supposed to work, they’ll never know.

If, for example, you’re licensing some software as a short term solution until a customized program can be implemented, you’ll be more interested in the termination provisions than if the license were long term.  Knowing what’s important to you and how it plugs into your business objectives will assist counsel in protecting your interests and prioritizing risks.  

The same goes for lawsuits.  Let your lawyer know what “winning” looks like to you.  It might mean crushing your opponent in court.  Or, it could mean positioning yourself for a favorable settlement.  Letting counsel know where you ultimately want to end up can save on research costs, among others.

Altogether, good goal setting up front helps your legal dollars go farther.  It creates more value added and a better return on your investment.

Full post as published by Legal Literacy on January 10, 2009 (boomark / email).