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In
1991, 1994-95, and 2006-07, I conducted nationwide surveys of attorney
billing practices. The results of those surveys are posted in the
following links. The results of my 1995-96 survey are analyzed in detail
in my book, The Honest Hour: The Ethics of Time-Based Billing by
Attorneys (Carolina Academic Press, 1996), and the results of my 1991
survey are discussed in my article, “The Ethics of Hourly Billing by
Attorneys,” 44 Rutgers Law Review 1-100 (1991). I plan to analyze
the results of my 2006-07 survey in a publication later this year.
Two hundred and fifty one attorneys responded to my most recent survey,
which was conducted through Reed Business Information, which generated a
random sampling of attorneys who worked at law firms throughout the United
States.
The results of my 2006-07 survey are in many ways quite similar to my
earlier surveys, which indicated that a distressingly high percentage of
attorneys believe that time-based billing results in bill padding and
provides incentives for attorneys to perform unnecessary work. For
example, approximately two-thirds of the respondents to the 2006-07 survey
and 1995-96 surveys stated that they had specific knowledge of bill
padding. Moreover, the attorneys who responded to the most recent survey
seemed, on the whole, to be less ethical in their billing practices than
those responded to the earlier surveys. For example, 54.6 percent admitted
that the prospect of billing additional time had at least sometimes
influenced their decision to do work that they otherwise would not have
performed, compared with only 40.3 percent in the 1996 survey. Similarly,
the percentage of attorneys who admitted that they had engaged in “double
billing” rose from 23 percent in 1996-96 to 34.7 percent in 2006-07. The
percentage of the attorneys who believed that this practice was unethical
fell from 64.7 percent in 1995-96 to only 51.8 percent in 2006-07, even
though this practice has been condemned by the American Bar Association
and most commentators who have discussed the issue.
The most recent survey also disclosed interesting attitudes towards
attorney billing guidelines, which 55 percent of the respondents reported
that at least some of their clients have. Of attorneys who expressed an
opinion about the effectiveness of billing guidelines, only approximately
12 percent believed that they significantly help to control costs, while
12 percent thought that they actually increase costs. More than half
believed that they have little or no impact.
Attorneys who responded to the survey also offered many interesting
narrative comments, which I have not posted, but which I will discuss in
my publication about the survey.
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