"Timesheet Terrors"
I love finding examples of time sheet errors, be they deliberate or not. Intentional deceit makes the more compelling case against use of the billable hour method, but negligent error also makes a compelling case for change. In the August 2006 edition of Inside Counsel, Executive Editor Rob Vosper pens a piece about the use of timesheets in law departments (hey, isn't getting rid of time sheets the primary reason to go inside?). His piece draws upon his own experience as a paralegal: Writes Rob:
Every Friday around 4 p.m., the office manager would walk the halls to collect our time sheets. Because I was too lazy to fill out mine on a daily basis, I had to spend a good hour every Friday afternoon recreating my work week. It was also never clear to me who should pay for my mistakes. Should I charge the client for the 25 minutes it took me to extract its mangled pleading from the bowels of a jammed copy machine? And what about the 15 minutes it took me to clean the ink off my hands after a run-in with my Bates stamper? And who should pay for the four-and-a-half hours I once spent summarizing the wrong depositions?
All fair questions, with no suggestion of deceit. But the questions beg broader questions about the value of what was done. Tick.....tick.....tick. Time is running out on the billable hour (I hope!).
See Rob's piece here.Download file