Risk Retention Services routinely audits all legal and other defense related bills as part of its services when managing claims and litigation.
Attorney time review. Attorneys can (and sometimes do) bill more time than is reasonable for a task. Sometimes, such over-charges are a result of human error. Sometimes, over-charges are the result of an inexperienced attorney charging you for a learning curve (sort of a subsidized legal education system). Other times, overcharges are the result of numerous attorneys duplicating efforts (partner reviewing junior partner, reviewing associate work and, of course, all of them reviewing work performed by the plaintiff). Lastly, over-charges are often the result of just being inefficient. However, Risk Retention Services personnel have managed litigation in many hundreds of cases. We have participated in every level of the lawsuit. We know how long specific tasks should take. Our attorney bill audits quickly identify not only excessive fees and costs, but also recommend methods of avoiding such issues in the future.
Hands-on involvement eases attorney bill audit. RRS approves every attorney bill submitted in its cases and knows every task assigned. We review every letter sent to or received by the attorney (including e-mails). We approve every legal document filed and assist in the drafting of many of these documents. Because we are intimately involved in every detail of the case, we know how long it took, because in a very real sense, we were there. Thus, where the attorney says that it took him 45 minutes to prepare a document, we know whether that occurred, because we were likely involved in the drafting and editing. Furthermore, after the first review, when time is cut because the time was inconsistent with our time records, the attorney is much more careful the next time a bill is submitted that it more accurately reflect their actual time spent. If a task is not approved, it is not paid. If a document is not provided for our review, we do not pay for the attorney’s review. In this way, we know not only what is going on, but when an activity occurred. If an attorney says that he or she spent 15 minutes writing a letter, but it is only one sentence, it is an easily challenged entry. But if we did not get every letter, and read every letter, we could not possibly know how long something took.
Short and long term benefits of fee auditing. When the attorney knows that the bills are being audited, attorney fees can be dramatically reduced. Often, after the first such review, excessive and duplicate billing cease.
