12 STEPS TO ANALYZING YOUR LEGAL SERVICES INVOICE FOR FAIRNESS & COMPLIANCE WITH BILLING GUIDELINES.

THE 12 STEP METHODOLOGY OF ANALYZING YOUR LEGAL SERVICES INVOICE FOR FAIRNESS & COMPLIANCE WITH ACCEPTED BILLING GUIDELINES
This compendium also includes a detailed mental checklist to be used by legal bill review analysts, in-house counsels, or legal spend management departments. Secondarily, the checklist can assist even small business owners and individual clients desiring to identify invoice areas where overcharges typically occur. Understandably, smaller clients usually do not have a billing guidelines agreement with their legal counsel. Thus, they may wish to focus attention on steps eight thru twelve of the process.
Written and published by Texas Attorney, Mayur Amin - January 17, 2022; edited for UA-cam on April 11, 2022.
We will first discuss the primary goal of legal bill review. Then, we shall discuss the 12-step methodology by which to audit or review a legal invoice for the purposes of verifying (1) its compliance with accepted billing guidelines and (2) its overall fairness and accuracy. Let us start now with a brief overview of the twelve steps:
STEP 1. Study the Client’s Billing Guidelines.
STEP 2. Obtain the Invoice & Conduct a Preliminary Review.
STEP 3. Generally, Verify the Invoice is Properly Formatted and Supported.
STEP 4. Verify Service-Related Line Entries Contain Adequate Information for Meaningful Analysis.
STEP 5. Verify Expense-Related Line Entries Contain Adequate Information for Meaningful Analysis.
STEP 6. Obtain Missing Information and Documentation Before Moving Forward.
STEP 7. Verify Preapproval Was Obtained for Certain Types of Services, Expenses, or Policy Deviations.
STEP 8. Verify Client Is Not Billed for Administrative Support Services or Expenses.
STEP 9. Verify Client Is Not Billed for Legal Services Which Add Zero Value.
STEP 10. Verify Client Is Not Paying Lawyers’ Rates for Paralegal Work.
STEP 11. Verify Client Is Not Paying Senior Lawyers’ Rates for Work Typically Handled by Junior Lawyers.
STEP 12. Verify Client Is Only Paying for Reasonable and Necessary Services & Expenses.
Okay, let us start with understanding the primary goal of legal bill review or audit.
The goal of legal bill review is to verify that outside counsel is providing high-quality, cost-effective legal services to its clients. This professional service ensures that a law firm acts ethically and observes the legal standards applicable to the invoicing of fees and expenses. It also verifies the firm’s compliance with a client’s billing guidelines (or “BGLs”). In evaluating an invoice, the analyst should determine if each task performed or expense incurred (1) aligns with the principal purpose of the engagement, (2) advances the matter (in its current phase), and (3) adds value to the tangible output sought to be obtained. Enforcing compliance with a client’s billing policies and procedures facilitates the foregoing analysis and serves as means by which to question the validity of legal spend, objectively.
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[@emzywillrich7243]

Looks great, Dr. Amin!

[@askattorneyamin7350]

Thank you! Cheers!