Dear litigators who go in house. Please don't ask your outside m&a counsel to stop block billing. Kind regards, someone who spent all day pivoting from task to task to put out your self-lit fires ahead of closing

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You don’t seem like you handle stress very well

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I find block billing results in a lot of round ups. Yes - it’s a PITA and we don’t charge for billing activities at my firm (it’s disallowed by my state’s ethics rules), but ultimately I think it’s a wash $-wise for the firm. I only have to do it for one client currently, thankfully. I totally agree it’s a drag.

Also - it would be good if folks could be nicer. OP was in the midst of what sounds like a hectic closing and was just venting.

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The time it tasks to do task billing is built into our hours so jokes on them.

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It is pretty clear it's not supposed to be at my firm

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Not sure why you think you're entitled to block bill?

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Block billing is in my experience still the norm for transactional matters. It’s not really about entitlement. Clients get the billing they demand, but also the fact that the more efficient I am, the more I’m penalized is all kinds of jacked up.

Or get off your high horse (by the way you address it as a litigator issue) and realize you are hired to do a job. Do it they way they want or lose the client.

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Some days have many more entries than others. It’s part of practicing. My point was he/she made it into a litigator thing, but its actually a client thing. You do it the way the client wants or you run the risk of losing them. For an oversaturated field, just know someone else would love to take that client and not complain about it. (As others have pointed out, sometimes you develop a really good relationship w the client and these requirements change over time.)

Plus there are always ways to put things together. Billing is an art form… like the law. Either you are good at it or not.

This is why I love working at the firm I work at. Our clients don’t ask for task billing. 🙌

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This is fascinating topic because it reveals a lot about the underlying client-attorney relationship. I find that the healthier and more transparent that relationship is, the more the client wants the block billing. Those clients trust we're not going to use it to gouge and appreciates that block billing can tell a more coherent story of what we did than a few dozen small entries.

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Litigator for 35+ years. Always block billed. Clients trusted me. New clients over the last decade have required it. I got over feeling not trusted ( not easy). But I really believe it takes longer and I bill for that time. I don’t know why anyone thinks it is better.

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You may not like the request, but remember they are the client and can always choose to take their business elsewhere.

If you don't mind me asking, how many hours are you including in one block?

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If you do 10 tasks that take 15 min each and it’s common knowledge they take that long, list out the items in a list. Less details needed if you’re giving a list of tasks completed

Interesting. I haven't worked on the transactional side. From the private litigator side, most of our client guidelines prohibited block billing and bills that included large chuncks of block billing where usually kicked back by the client.

I thought block building was generally discouraged in all private practice.

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