[blindlaw] Billable hours and reasonable accommodation

Mon Jul 16 19:13:29 UTC 2012

What you are doing is what most lawyers did before 1970 -- bill according to
value not according to hours spent.  In the long run, such a practice is
better for clients and represents our profession at its best. You can blame
those mindless fools known as accountants for the "bill-by-the-hour system.
Accountants, unimaginative as they are, couldn't understand value billing
and demanded an "objective" way to measure attorney bills.  Thus, the
billable hour. So now we have attorneys billing a minimum amount to prepare
an Answer, and at the same time billing a nominal amount for answering a
question that saved a client thousands of dollars because the attorney knew
the answer without any research.

The harsh realities of the last recession, or should I say this recession,
have forced both attorneys and clients to reexamine the concept of the
billable hour and to develop more flexible, and more realistic fee
arrangements.  That trend can only benefit both clients and attorneys.

Regards, 
RUSSELL J. THOMAS, JR.
Principal Attorney 

Law Office of Russell J. Thomas, Jr. 
4121 Westerly Place, Suite 101
Newport Beach, California 92660
T: 949-752-0101
F: 949-257-4756

Follow me on Twitter @EmplmntAttorney

-----Original Message-----
From: blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Ross Doerr
Sent: Monday, July 16, 2012 11:02 AM
To: 'Blind Law Mailing List'
Subject: Re: [blindlaw] Billable hours and reasonable accommodation

Hi Josh:
I couldn't agree more.  When I made the determination of what the case is
worth, I always did it from the viewpoint of the client, and billed fairly,
or what I thought was fair, from that point on. That almost always involved
a decrease in the bill, and the client did not miss seeing that.
You can't buy that kind of good will for a practice. 
Like you, it almost always took me longer to go through things than a
sighted attorney would take owing to blindness, but whether you are
well-versed in that particular field of law, or are just getting started in
it, ethics opinions come down on the side of spending what ever time is
necessary to properly represent ;your client. Hence my fallback of billing
according to what the case is worth in my area, and what the client's real
world means are. A $500 case here would almost certainly be billed out much
higher in a place like Boston, Phoenix Los Angeles or San Francisco. Maine
rates #50  in recovery from this economic depression, and our population is
decreasing as those with good educations flee to areas where jobs are more
plentiful and pay rates are higher. What that really means is that the pool
of business clients or private clients is getting smaller while the number
of attorneys remains the same. The level of employment is just so low that
pay and billing must react to stay open.  
For example, I've been amazed at how many members of the medical profession
are closing up their practices here and going down to Texas. The
availability of medical care is sufferring for it.
I'm sure Texas is a wonderful place, but having seen the heat temperatures
down there lately, I think I'll stick to the ice and snow up here for a
while yet.
  Ross

-----Original Message-----
From: blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of joshjsmith at charter.net
Sent: Monday, July 16, 2012 1:18 PM
To: Blind Law Mailing List
Cc: Blind Law Mailing List
Subject: Re: [blindlaw] Billable hours and reasonable accommodation

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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