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A recent anonymous online poll conducted by RollonFriday, a prominent law industry website, has revealed troubling insights into billing practices among lawyers, with over a third of respondents admitting to padding their time sheets.
The practice, known as “time dumping,” involves adding time to clients’ bills that was not actually incurred.
Of the nearly 900 responses received, 35.5% of lawyers confessed to engaging in time dumping, with 13% admitting to doing so regularly. Another 12.6% stated that they occasionally engaged in the practice, while nearly 10% claimed to be rarely guilty of it.
The prevalence of time dumping is attributed to the longstanding practice of law firms billing in six-minute units. This system makes it relatively easy for lawyers to inflate the time recorded on their timesheets, particularly in complex corporate deals where the discrepancies may go unnoticed. The pressure to meet high billing targets, particularly in American law firms, further exacerbates the problem. Partners at these firms often impose annual billing targets of 2,000 or more hours, leading to intense pressure on junior lawyers to bill as much as possible.
In response to the poll findings, Jamie Hamilton, a director at RollonFriday, expressed concern about the impact of bill padding on client trust and satisfaction. He noted that while some clients may not object to bill padding if they are satisfied with the outcome and the perceived value, transparency and integrity should be paramount in legal billing practices.
Colin Passmore, the chairman of the City of London Law Society, condemned the practice of time dumping, emphasising the importance of acting with integrity in client relationships. He said: “Clearly this is not a practice I would condone. If there is any truth in this, I would expect people to have regard to their obligation to act with integrity”
Legal experts argue that the prevalence of time dumping underscores the need for transparency and fairness in legal billing practices. Moving away from the traditional chargeable hour model and adopting more transparent billing methods could help mitigate the temptation for lawyers to pad their time sheets.
