Litigation: The revolving door—combating inefficiencies in major litigation staffing

In complex litigation, the lack of oversight in managing defense counsel, and the failure of defense counsel to follow billing guidelines, can result in overly inflated fees and costs from improper billing. Under either scenario, the result is generally excessive fees and costs.

Certain types of excessive billing practices are easy to spot, such as block and vague billing entries by counsel or billing for unrelated costs. Other excessive billing practices may be much harder to decipher and require closer scrutiny of the legal invoices. Improper staffing, with a revolving door of attorneys and paralegals, is one of the most common types of excessive billing practice that we come across in our litigation management work.

The different categories of improper staffing include general overstaffing, multiple attendance by timekeepers, excessive contract attorneys and paralegals, and transient billers.