Related Posts
Subject Expert
Does biotin work for prevention of hair loss?
Additional Posts in Law
How do you wind down after a rough day?
Pro
New to Fishbowl?
Download the Fishbowl app to
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
If you’re billing me to tell me how much you’re going to bill me, you missed something in the interview & we’re off to a rocky start. I might just pay you for the hour, thank you, and release you. Ditto with charges for photocopies and hours charged on nights and weekends that only say “strategize” or “plan for” in the time entry.
I hope you feel a bit of empathy for folks who need to leave their families and friends to spend an entire weekend day to prepare a thoughtful budget to later learn the in-house counsel asked for a budget from 8 firms.
All, thank you for clarifying. I truly never realized you could not bill for a litigation budget, as that’s something no staff member can prepare. Your responses prompted me to ask the partner (which I should’ve done to begin with) and he instructed me to capture the time the same way we capture all other “nonbillable” work that is done for a client - make up something billable that can’t be audited.
Surely a troll
None. We have a budget/pricing department and even if we didn’t, that time is not worth damaging the trust with a prospective client. And if it’s an existing client, it’s non-billable investment into the relationship. Not sure how many budgets you’re doing or how much time you’re spending but I don’t see that as billable.
Thank you! I just started practicing at a firm where they tell the attorneys to do the budgets, so I’ve only done a couple and it hasn’t been too long that I didn’t realize you can’t bill the client directly for it. Having a budget/pricing department makes more sense.
Zero
Nothing? Do you really treat that as billable?
Tough crowd😂 our folks tie it into the report or update they usually send along with it versus having a separate entry for the budget
Right! God forbid I ask my fellow colleagues for some friendly advice on a Friday morning 😂 who pissed in their Cheerios
Thankfully the real attorneys who understand billing checked the app and backed me up once they finished their long day of honest work and capturing billable time 💯
I’m assuming you’re an associate and likely a younger one. If instructed to do it by the partner, you ‘bill’ it for hours purposes. The partner may cut the time so it doesn’t go to the client. But you should put it into your billing.
Read your billing guidelines I bet they say this is a non-billable task. Your guidelines are the Bible read and familiarize your self with them.
usually 0.1-0.3 Draft financial analysis for life of case up to (or including) trial
Sometimes gets dinged on appeal. Usually not.
.3. A litigation budget is billable if the client asks for it after they’ve been retained. It requires thought about the particular matter and the creation of a document. It’s not a lot of work, but it’s billable work. If it’s an insured matter, they may cut it. For uninsured matters I’ve never had a problem.
Mark it as some non billable so your firm knows you spent time on something but definitely don’t bill for that.