The Written Word
for May 2, 2001

One of these days the whistle is going to be blown on the legal profession, of which I was once proud to be a member. I would not be proud to practice law under today's circumstances.

There are lots of fine, public spirited lawyers who do an honest hour's work for an honest wage. But more and more the essence of lawyering is running up bills.

I am told that some large, trans-Canadian law firms demand from their partners and senior associates 1800 and even up to 2000 billing hours per year. Assuming, after vacations and holidays a 200 day work year that's a ten hour day of billable time. Think of that in terms of what a lawyer does during the day. Not only does he take the normal time we all do for pleasantries with staff, chats over the water cooler, reading the newspaper and the like he must keep up on his professional reading. This means reading at least three different publications, in part, every week and probably a
lot more. He must confer with his partners and management about how the firm is to run. He must eat lunch and, one assumes, occasionally go to the loo.

Not to put too fine a point on it there is absolutely no way any lawyer can bill anywhere near 2000 hours a year - hell make it 1500 - unless he pads the bills of those who can pay. Am I accusing the legal profession - or at least some of them of bill
padding? You're damned right I am. And let me tell you one way they do it. Most lawyers bill in terms of tenths of an hour. Make a phone call and its .1 minimum. Now .1 of an hour is 6 minutes and I can tell you that very few calls last a quarter that long. Call up another lawyer and confirm a court date? Total time including pleasantries, one minute or 1/60 of an hour. Time billed because the system will allow nothing lower than .1 and the bill is,
at $250 per hour $25 instead of $2.50.

Think that doesn't add up? Just look at a sizeable bill, as I have been forced to, and as the winner at the poker table says, read 'em and weep! Remember too that this works with conferences. Let's say your lawyer spends 45 minutes trying to settle your case with the other lawyer. He will not charge .75 of an hour if only because it always has to be rounded out at a 0. He will, if he is more honest than most, round it out to .8. The fact is that almost all lawyers will fudge it a little and make it a nice even hour. Or more if he thinks he can get away with it.

None of these "adjustments" amount to much standing by themselves but added together they become a staggering amount of money.

Let me tell you of another rip-off. If you've been involved in litigation you will note charges for adjourning one matter or another. They become a very large part of your bill and reflect when lawyers and judges just can't get their act together. But who pays for these adjournments? No prizes for answering that one correctly. Adjournments that give you not a bit of value and only happen to
accommodate lawyers and judges are paid for by you.

When I practiced law the rule of thumb was that if you put in a full day, that is to say 10 hours, you would be very hard pressed indeed to be able to bill 5 hours - unless, of course, you padded.
What can you do if you suspect your bill is padded? Have it taxed. Paying yet another lawyer to help you, appear before a judge
who is also a lawyer. Good luck.

What was once an honourable profession has now become a high priced treadmill. Whatever bill you just got from your lawyer, unless it was a fee you agreed upon in advance, or a fee contingent on the outcome, is almost certain to have been padded - heavily padded. Wouldn't you like a job where you charged by the hour and no one watched to see how long you worked? And to have no real constraints on how much you bill?

If so, drop everything you have and enroll in Law School.