About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline

LOG IN
LOG IN


24 J. Legal Prof. 111 (2000)
Ethical and Legal Snares Waiting for Attorneys Subject to Legal Fee Audits and Billing Guidelines

handle is hein.journals/jlegpro24 and id is 117 raw text is: ETHICAL AND LEGAL SNARES WAITING FOR ATTORNEYS SUBJECT TO LEGAL FEE AUDITS AND BILLING GUIDELINES Claire Hamner Matturro I. INTRODUCTION Auditing of attorneys' bills by professional legal auditors represents a growing trend in the practice of law which is clashing head-on with some sacrosanct legal ethical principles. Such auditing often follows in the footsteps of another increasingly common cost containment strategy by corporate clients-so-called litigation or billing guidelines. Both prac- tices, which occur most often in the tripartite relationship of insurance defense where the insurer pays an attorney to defend its insured, are ripe with potential legal and ethical pitfalls for attorneys. While billing guidelines might impact such practices as discovery, legal research and whether a senior attorney or novice attorney actually tries a case, an audit might pry into records involving a client's confi- dences. As such, an attorney's compliance with guidelines could result in violation of the ethical dictates involving an attorney's independent judgment in situations where payment is made by a third party other than the actual client. Further, an attorney who submits his or her legal bills to an outside auditing service might well violate the client's right to con- fidentiality. And, even when the client requests an audit and presumably agrees to any disclosure of information to the auditor, such an audit might well result in a lost of the evidentiary protection of the attorney- client privilege. In light of these concerns, this Article addresses the reasons why billing guidelines and legal audits are increasingly in play, what an attor- ney might expect under billing guidelines and in a legal audit, as well as * Claire Haner Matturo is a graduate of The University of Alabama School of Law and former editor of The Journal of the Legal Profession. After a decade as an appellate attorney in Sarasota, Florida, she joined the Faculty at Florida State University College of Law as a legal editor and divides her time between Georgia and Florida.