Development of an Internal Legal Bill Review Program
Legal Points . . . and John Conlon & Associates can provide expert assistance and guidance to help you establish an effective
internal legal bill review program by following this three step process:
Defining the Issues
· Determine the amount of legal spend leakage (if any) by performing a sample audit of paid legal bills.
· Review current guidelines/procedures/instructions given to outside attorneys on file handling to determine extent (if any) of needed revisions.
Identifying the Solutions
· Recommend appropriate legal cost savings goals based upon sample audit.
· Draft uniform litigation/billing guidelines that will help meet company’s legal cost savings goals and better align company’s goals with attorney’s ethical and legal responsibilities.
· Recommend staffing/workflow changes necessary for internal legal bill review program
Implementing the Solutions
· Training and calibration of staff on revised Litigation/Billing Guidelines including individual hands-on instruction to staff to ensure complete understanding of calibration and training.
· Roll out revised Litigation/Billing Guidelines to outside counsel.
o Provide letters to send to counsel with detailed explanations and examples to assist their understanding of Guidelines.
o Assist company as needed with answers to questions, comments from outside counsel.
· Quarterly reviews on compliance with revised billing guidelines at 3, 6, 9 month intervals including:
o Sampling of legal bill reviews performed by staff during the quarter
o Quarterly meetings with staff to answer questions and/or provide retraining or recalibration as needed.
· Unlimited access to John Conlon & Associates for 12 months by telephone or e-mail for assistance as needed with legal billing issues or questions from staff or outside counsel.
Legal Points . . . specialists in helping control outside legal costs