ATTORNEY FEE HU$TLE
Legal Bill Review Checklist
This checklist identifies 18 billing practices that may result in questionable or inflated legal fees. Comparing your invoices to these examples may help you identify potentially problematic billing patterns and better evaluate whether the charges accurately reflect the legal work performed.
If you identify a questionable charge, document it on the audit template and note why the charge concerns you. You can then present your audit to your attorney and request clarification of the questioned charges.
The presence of one of these practices does not necessarily mean a fee is unreasonable; it may indicate that the charge deserves closer review or explanation.
☐ 1. Lack of detail in describing an attorney's charges
☐ 2. Lack of detail in describing staff charges
☐ 3. Billing expenses above cost
☐ 4. Billing for tasks not performed
☐ 5. Block billing
☐ 6. Charges for clerical tasks billed by a paralegal
☐ 7. Charges for paralegal tasks billed by an attorney
☐ 8. Charges related to billing questions
☐ 9. Chipping
☐ 10. Churning
☐ 11. Duplicate billing
☐ 12. Excessive time for document review
☐ 13. Excessive legal research
☐ 14. Excessive time to complete a task
☐ 15. Fees not in compliance with the fee agreement
☐ 16. High minimum increments
☐ 17. Overuse of rounded time estimates
☐ 18. Vague descriptions