[blindlaw] Billable hours and reasonable accommodation

[joshjsmith at charter.net]

I do tend to write down my bills.  Probably because I don't want to over 
bill for the area but also because I realize it does take me longer to 
read through thick files and I don't want to pass that cost on to my 
clients.  I will say that many clients to understand that it takes me 
longer and I have even had some tell me to bill for whatever time I 
spend on their case.  I still write some time off however.


On Sun, Jul 15, 2012 at 2:35 PM, Gerard Sadlier wrote:

> as a trainee we are told to account for all the time we work.
> Most of that will be written off, not just for me but for everyonE.
> This is a good question.
> Do you find yourselves working longer hours as blind lawyers?
> Ger
>
> On 7/15/12, Farber, Randy <rfarber at jw.com> wrote:
>> Elizabeth -
>>
>> 	When  it comes to billables, there are two places that the 
>> statistics are
>> important.  First, they show-up on the invoice to your client.  I 
>> always
>> review the invoices and bill based on what I believe is competitive.
>> Therefore, I often write off some of the time I bill.  Not because I 
>> am
>> blind, but because I do not believe that the invoice is competitive 
>> in the
>> market.
>>
>> 		The second place where billables are important is in your 
>> compensation as
>> an associate (as opposed to a partner where it is the cash that is
>> important).  My recommendation is to write down all the hours you 
>> work, and
>> let the billing attorney decide what should be billed.  If you are 
>> solo or
>> in a small firm, you may be both the working attorney and the billing
>> attorney.  In which case, I still have the same advise.  You will 
>> want to be
>> able to keep track of how many hours you are spending on a task, even 
>> if you
>> are not billing the entire time.
>>
>> Feel free to contact me off list if you would like to discuss this 
>> issue in
>> a lawfirm setting.
>>
>> Randy
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org 
>> [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
>> Behalf Of Elizabeth Rene
>> Sent: Saturday, July 14, 2012 5:29 PM
>> To: blindlaw at nfbnet.org
>> Subject: [blindlaw] Billable hours and reasonable accommodation
>>
>> I am very impressed to read that several lawyers on this list are 
>> working
>> for private firms.  I have always worked in the public sector.  Could 
>> you
>> please tell me your experience of logging billable hours for your 
>> firms?
>> While consistently productive, I have always taken a bit longer to do
>> research and write briefs than my sighted colleagues (time and a 
>> half, at
>> least(, but maybe some new technology would improve that.  How have 
>> your
>> firms rated the productivity of blind lawyers, and 
>> how--generally--are blind
>> lawyers in the private sector calculating their billable hours if 
>> they take
>> longer than sighted colleagues to do specific tasks?
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Elizabeth Rene
>>
>>
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>
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