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Law Firm Self-Audits Rely on Inspect/Repair
According to an article in the July 14th issue of The Wall Street Journal, law firms are increasingly auditing themselves rather than risk embarrassing billing errors that could cost them clients, prestige, and significant amounts of money. Law firms are even turning to outside auditors to avoid conflicts of interest.
Whether a law firm uses internal or external auditors, the present focus is on inspection and repair of billing and other problems. Catching errors is sometimes difficult. And a client may still challenge a bill that seems unreasonable. But having auditors in place and avoiding conflicts of interest between the auditors and the firm's lawyers both helps find problems before the client is billed and encourages the firm's attorneys to be more careful. The article was written by Erin White and appears on page B8.