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39 UALR L. Rev. 1 (2016-2017)
Establishing Best Billing Practices through Billing Guidelines: Fostering Trust and Transparency on Legal Costs

handle is hein.journals/ualr39 and id is 9 raw text is: ESTABLISHING BEST BILLING PRACTICES THROUGH BILLING GUIDELINES: FOSTERING TRUST AND TRANSPARENCY ON LEGAL COSTS Laura Johnson, Howard Tollin, Marci Waterman, and Sarah Mills- Dirlam* I. INTRODUCTION Managing legal costs is always a concern for clients who need signifi- cant legal representation. The rise of legal auditing firms and the use of Bill- ing Guidelines have provided law firms' clients with a reliable and con- sistent process for validating and challenging legal fees, increasing transpar- ency and communications with law firms and avoiding costly fee disputes. There is not a great deal of statutory or case law specifically concerning best billing practices outside of the fee dispute context; however, that con- text has provided us with some universally accepted standards for legal bill- ing that should be incorporated into Billing Guidelines. Generally, this case law arises out of: (1) post-litigation fee-shifting statutes, where a prevailing party may recover only reasonable and necessary legal fees and expenses; and (2) what the courts interpret as reasonable fees and expenses in a legal invoice.' * The authors wrote this article in conjunction with their vast first-hand experiences and research at Sterling Analytics, a consulting and advisory firm that helps companies man- age their legal expenses. Sterling Analytics is a team of skilled attorneys who review more than a billion dollars of legal spending annually, and are well versed in all areas of practice. Its clients come from a broad range of industries with different legal budgets but share a common concern: reducing legal spending while maintaining the highest service level stand- ards. Laura Johnson is Sterling Analytics' Lead Senior Attorney and manages the review teams for Sterling's largest clients. Ms. Johnson negotiates fee disputes, conducts on-site audits, and creates expert reports on the reasonableness of attorneys' fees for use at trial when retained as an expert witness. Howard M. Tollin is a Legal Fee Expert with Sterling Analytics where he provides expert testimony and reports on the reasonableness of legal fees and ex- penses. Mr. Tollin is also President of Sterling Risk's Environmental Services division where he oversees consulting, risk management and brokerage services. Marci Waterman is the Managing Director of Sterling Analytics and oversees the analysis of over a billion dollars in legal invoices annually. Ms. Waterman's two decades practicing law has enabled her to de- velop strategic partnerships throughout the country with litigation management teams. Sarah Mills currently serves as Program Attorney for an online continuing legal education provider. As a Senior Attorney with Sterling Analytics, Ms. Mills drafted Outside Counsel Billing Guidelines and had extensive experience auditing legal bills for companies across a wide range of industries. 1. See Missouri v. Jenkins, 491 U.S. 274, 285-86 (1989); Richlin Sec. Serv. Co. v. Chertoff, 553 U.S. 571, 576-80 (2008); MODEL RULES OF PROF'L CONDUCT r. 1.5(a) (Am. 1

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