Malpractice occurs when a professional engages in negligence or inappropriate behavior. Failing to meet current industry standards and ethics guidelines can also potentially constitute professional malpractice.
Claims of legal malpractice may involve assertions that an attorney provided inaccurate legal information or failed to disclose a conflict of interests to clients. In some cases, allegations of legal malpractice begin with claims that a professional did not adhere to ethical standards established by other legal professionals.
Inappropriate billing practices are among the questionable acts that may trigger legal malpractice lawsuits. What types of billing behavior might constitute actionable legal malpractice?
Mismanaging a retainer
Many lawyers require that their clients pay sizable retainers to access their services. The client pays thousands of dollars when they hire the lawyer. The attorney then bills against the retainer until they have used all of it.
At that point, they may require that the client pay another sizable amount. Lawyers should keep retainers separate from their personal or business funds. Commingling a retainer is a violation of best practices. So is the retention of a retainer when a lawyer has fulfilled their obligations but has not performed enough work to justify billing for the full amount of the retainer.
Overcharging their clients
Legal professionals typically need to provide total billing transparency. They should provide detailed invoices that accurately reflect when and how they worked on a client’s case. Some lawyers claim to have provided services that they did not to justify retaining the balance of a retainer.
Other times, they may unreasonably inflate the amount of time spent working on a case. While it is reasonable for lawyers to round their time to specific increments, such as 15 minutes or a quarter hour, billing a client for an hour of work when they took a five-minute phone call is potentially inappropriate.
Clients who have experienced illegal and inappropriate billing may be able to seek compensation and draw attention to the misconduct of their former lawyers by filing a legal malpractice lawsuit. Reviewing invoices with a skilled legal team can help clients determine if they experience billing-related legal malpractice. Attorneys who inappropriately manage retainer funds and invoicing may have violated the rights of their clients.