This can be accomplished by retaining an independent auditing firm to review billing procedures before a dispute develops. About 30-50 percent of legal bills are questionable. When a fee dispute ends up in litigation, the invoice is often reduced by this amount. A firm's failure to retain an expert legal auditor on its own behalf is especially surprising in light of the questionable credentials and methodology of some of the legal auditors that the clients are hiring. In these cases, if the law firm had retained its own expert who could have demonstrated serious questions about the opposing side's expert, the firm could have fared much better in the fee dispute.
Many law firms dismiss client complaints of overbilling.
All client complaints and audit reports should be viewed as learning opportunities to correct potential problems before they develop. There are many reasons why a law firm may not incorporate any or all of these suggestions. First is the extreme conservatism of most firms. It may take many more multimillion-dollar verdicts before many firms change their policies and the way they handle complaints. Second, as long as attorneys are compensated on an hourly basis, there is an inherent conflict between the attorney and the client with a corresponding disincentive to ensure that overbilling does not occur.