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ACC Ups Its Involvement in Outside Counsel Fee Fights
March 29, 2013
Usually fights over attorney fees remain between the company and its outside counsel, or the in-house and outside bars. But some...
March 29, 2013
Usually fights over attorney fees remain between the company and its outside counsel, or the in-house and outside bars. But some...
‘Churn that bill, baby!’ email surfaces in fee dispute with DLA Piper
March 29, 2013
It all began with a corporate bankruptcy case. Retained by energy entrepreneur Adam H. Victor in April 2010 to prepare the Chapter 11 filing for one of his companies, DLA Piper ran up a hefty bill. And when Victor refused to pay it, the law firm sued him for $675,000. Victor defended aggressively, not only filing a counterclaim over what he alleged was a “sweeping practice of overbilling" on the megafirm's part but discovering some 250,000 pages of documents, according to the DealBook page...
March 29, 2013
It all began with a corporate bankruptcy case. Retained by energy entrepreneur Adam H. Victor in April 2010 to prepare the Chapter 11 filing for one of his companies, DLA Piper ran up a hefty bill. And when Victor refused to pay it, the law firm sued him for $675,000. Victor defended aggressively, not only filing a counterclaim over what he alleged was a “sweeping practice of overbilling" on the megafirm's part but discovering some 250,000 pages of documents, according to the DealBook page...
Apology Fails in DLA Piper Legal Billing Scandal
March 28, 2013
The billable hour is the monster inside the law business. Thanks to dogged discovery efforts by a former DLA Piper client, the monster has broken out of its lair and is standing, somewhat mortified but proud and unbowed, in the media’s cross-hairs. If you’ve been on vacation, here are billing emails discovered in a lawsuit between (depending on your side of the case) a deadbeat client and an upstanding law firm or a virtuous businessman and his rapacious lawyers. “I hear we are already...
March 28, 2013
The billable hour is the monster inside the law business. Thanks to dogged discovery efforts by a former DLA Piper client, the monster has broken out of its lair and is standing, somewhat mortified but proud and unbowed, in the media’s cross-hairs. If you’ve been on vacation, here are billing emails discovered in a lawsuit between (depending on your side of the case) a deadbeat client and an upstanding law firm or a virtuous businessman and his rapacious lawyers. “I hear we are already...
DLA Piper Is Not Alone: Why Law Firms Overbill
March 28, 2013
Some mornings are just nice to wake up to. Confirmation of bias is an underappreciated source of joy. I relish any piece of information that reinforces my preconceptions. Four stories making the rounds have reminded me how right I am that: 1. Price is what you pay. Value is what you get (hat tip to Warren Buffet). 2. The billable hour model creates perverse incentives in aligning price and value. 3. The problem with incentives is that they work — even for lawyers. 4. Despite their expertise,...
March 28, 2013
Some mornings are just nice to wake up to. Confirmation of bias is an underappreciated source of joy. I relish any piece of information that reinforces my preconceptions. Four stories making the rounds have reminded me how right I am that: 1. Price is what you pay. Value is what you get (hat tip to Warren Buffet). 2. The billable hour model creates perverse incentives in aligning price and value. 3. The problem with incentives is that they work — even for lawyers. 4. Despite their expertise,...
DLA Piper Calls E-Mails Cited in Lawsuit an ‘Offensive’ Attempt at Humor
March 28, 2013
After a lawsuit of involving the billing practices of DLA Piper, the law firm on Tuesday issued a memo to its lawyers, calling language in e-mails written by its lawyers “unprofessional.” The law firm is involved in a fee dispute with Adam H. Victor, an energy industry executive, who has accused the law firm of performing superfluous tasks and overstaffing assignments. Mr. Victor’s suit cited several e-mail messages from lawyers at the firm. One e-mail involved a lawyer describing how a colleague...
March 28, 2013
After a lawsuit of involving the billing practices of DLA Piper, the law firm on Tuesday issued a memo to its lawyers, calling language in e-mails written by its lawyers “unprofessional.” The law firm is involved in a fee dispute with Adam H. Victor, an energy industry executive, who has accused the law firm of performing superfluous tasks and overstaffing assignments. Mr. Victor’s suit cited several e-mail messages from lawyers at the firm. One e-mail involved a lawyer describing how a colleague...
Do Lawyers Really Believe Their Own Hype, and Should They?
March 28, 2013
Research suggests that attorneys are too confident in the merits of their clients’ cases. But attorneys often self-select (1) the area of law in which they practice, (2) the side on which to practice within that area, (3) law firms with whom they practice, and (4) the clients they represent. We exploit a natural experiment involving participants in moot court competitions at four U.S. law schools over 2 years to explore whether, after stripping away these selection biases through random assignment...
March 28, 2013
Research suggests that attorneys are too confident in the merits of their clients’ cases. But attorneys often self-select (1) the area of law in which they practice, (2) the side on which to practice within that area, (3) law firms with whom they practice, and (4) the clients they represent. We exploit a natural experiment involving participants in moot court competitions at four U.S. law schools over 2 years to explore whether, after stripping away these selection biases through random assignment...
IBM CEO Predicts Three Ways Technology Will Transform The Future Of Business
March 27, 2013
With cloud, mobile, social and big data advances all happening at once and at lightning speed, how will shifts in technology impact the way businesses are run? According to Ginni Rometty, the first female CEO of IBM, it will change everything. Last night, speaking at an event organized by the nonprofit Council on Foreign Relations, Rometty predicted that data will be the basis of competitive advantage going forward, calling it the “the next natural resource.” She believes it will change...
March 27, 2013
With cloud, mobile, social and big data advances all happening at once and at lightning speed, how will shifts in technology impact the way businesses are run? According to Ginni Rometty, the first female CEO of IBM, it will change everything. Last night, speaking at an event organized by the nonprofit Council on Foreign Relations, Rometty predicted that data will be the basis of competitive advantage going forward, calling it the “the next natural resource.” She believes it will change...
Suit Offers a Peek at Emails Discussing Inflated Legal Bill
March 26, 2013
They were lawyers at the world’s largest law firm, trading casual e-mails about a client’s case. One made a sarcastic joke about how the bill was running way over budget. Another described a colleague’s approach to the assignment as “churn that bill, baby!” The e-mails, which emerged in a court filing late last week, provide a window into the thorny issue of law firm billing. The documents are likely to reinforce a perception held by many corporate clients — and the public — that...
March 26, 2013
They were lawyers at the world’s largest law firm, trading casual e-mails about a client’s case. One made a sarcastic joke about how the bill was running way over budget. Another described a colleague’s approach to the assignment as “churn that bill, baby!” The e-mails, which emerged in a court filing late last week, provide a window into the thorny issue of law firm billing. The documents are likely to reinforce a perception held by many corporate clients — and the public — that...
Google Trends: Web Search Interest for Lawyers
March 23, 2013
If you care about attracting search visitors to your website and/or blog, you should learn how to use search data to understand...
March 23, 2013
If you care about attracting search visitors to your website and/or blog, you should learn how to use search data to understand...
‘Assassins’ Aim to Reinvent Law
March 20, 2013
You would almost think Daniel Martin Katz was running for office, he's such a travelin' man these days. His blog, computationallegalstudies.com features his travel itinerary, aka "The Campaign Trail," with tightly-scheduled conferences across the globe. On December 10, 2012, it was the ReInventLaw Dubai 2012 Conference; then there were six events before the reprise of ReInventLaw in Silicon Valley on March 8. And so forth, and so on. Monday night, Katz was at Lincoln Center in New York City...
March 20, 2013
You would almost think Daniel Martin Katz was running for office, he's such a travelin' man these days. His blog, computationallegalstudies.com features his travel itinerary, aka "The Campaign Trail," with tightly-scheduled conferences across the globe. On December 10, 2012, it was the ReInventLaw Dubai 2012 Conference; then there were six events before the reprise of ReInventLaw in Silicon Valley on March 8. And so forth, and so on. Monday night, Katz was at Lincoln Center in New York City...
