Opinion ID: 1441114
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Siepser and SHC Matters

Text: In 1994, Dr. Siepser had engaged the firm to help him obtain approval for an ambulatory surgical center in Pennsylvania. The respondent asked another firm attorney, Robert Shay, to work on the case. In short order, Mr. Shay completed the assignment and, in addition, obtained a refund of more than $21,000 in fees from a law firm that the client had previously retained. After reviewing the September 1994 pre-bill for Dr. Siepser, the respondent decided that a $700 premium would be appropriate in light of the quality of the representation provided by Mr. Shay. Rather than expressly adding the premium to the bill, however, the respondent, without consulting Mr. Shay, added three hours to the time that he had recorded for the matter. On November 17, 1994, McDermott sent a bill to Dr. Siepser that provided only a bottom-line figure for professional services rendered and did not inform him of the changed hours or that a premium had been charged. The respondent testified that he does not remember ever focusing on the terms of Dr. Siepser's engagement letter when working on the bill. The SHC matter began in mid-1994 when the client contacted the respondent seeking advice concerning various issues. The respondent and another attorney, Diane Millman, worked on the matter. Again the respondent determined that the firm had provided exceptional service to the client in a cost-effective manner and decided to add a $530 premium to the pre-bill. He added two hours to the time recorded by Ms. Millman based upon his belief that the value of her services exceeded the amount that McDermott would earn based solely on hourly rates. The respondent testified that he did not recall considering which billing policy applied to SHC. The final bill sent to SHC did not disclose the hour adjustments or that the firm had charged a premium. The respondent openly acknowledges that he intended to charge a premium in both cases and that he accomplished this by adding to the hours recorded by his associates. Before the Hearing Committee, he testified that he did not intend to make the bills misleading or dishonest. The Hearing Committee did not discredit this testimony, and despite the number of questionable billing actions taken by the respondent, there is no direct evidence in the record indicating that the respondent knew that the two cases were governed by the old engagement letter which provided that clients would only be charged for the time McDermott's professional staff actually spent working on the clients' cases. At the time the bills were prepared  shortly after the announced change in billing practices  the firm did not yet have a policy in place addressing how attorneys should add premiums to a client's bill. Moreover, the Hearing Committee and the Board also found that the respondent's attempts to charge a premium in these cases could not have affected his compensation from McDermott. Charles Work and James Sneed, partners at McDermott at the time, acknowledged that the respondent might have been confused as to which billing policy was applicable to the Siepser and SHC matters at the time he worked on the bills. The respondent sent out thirty to sixty bills each month, [2] and Mr. Sneed testified that any billing attorney with that volume wouldn't necessarily be able to know immediately which letter was applicable to which client at a particular time. [3] According to Mr. Work, McDermott's internal investigation found no evidence really to contradict [the respondent's] view that he was just mistaken about how to [charge a premium] correctly and that the respondent had never tried to cover that up. [4]