Talk about putting useful information to work \u2014 our recent article on how some lawyers are using AI to produce in seconds documents that would normally take hours to draft\u2013 yet, billing for those hours not worked\u2013\u00a0was the spark that inflamed readers who made the same discovery, and had \u201cAre you kidding me?\u201d discussions with their lawyers.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t Be Intimidated<\/p>\n
Beyond, \u201cI think you owe me a refund,\u201d several readers went a step further, fearing they would be dismissed with, \u201cThat\u2019s our bill, pay it.\u201d So, they researched their state\u2019s bar regulations which dealt with honesty in billing clients for work performed \u2014 actual time spent.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBen,\u201d in Cleveland, wrote, \u201cI found a shopping list of violations that could jeopardize her license to practice law. I don\u2019t want to be accused of extortion or blackmail. I want to say, \u201cYou overcharged me by using AI and billing as if you had done the work yourself. I expect a refund of the unearned hours or I am prepared to file a complaint with the State Bar.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat if she replies, ‘don\u2019t threaten complaining to the Bar because that is blackmail, and you\u2019ll find yourself in trouble.’\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The answer is, yes, Ben can say that because threatening to file a complaint with his state\u2019s Bar is not extortion as the basis of the complaint is legitimate. I suggested this direct, yet diplomatic approach:<\/p>\n
\u201cAs AI was used to generate the material, all I am asking is for a refund of what I was overcharged and nothing more. You know the consequences if I bring this to the attention of the State Bar and I\u2019m telling you that I do not want to do this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lawyers Comment on 2,000 Hour Billing Requirement\u00a0<\/p>\n
Our story cited the destructive, inhumane requirement of requiring attorneys to bill 2,000-plus hours yearly to keep their job, which translates into expecting high quality legal work over 12 hours day on the job.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cUtterly impossible,\u201d according to Professor of Psychology at California State University, Bakersfield, Dr. Luis Vega. \u201cThis completely unreasonable and unachievable hour total finds decent people caught in a web of corporate greed. While there is individual variation, on average four hours of intense focus is typically the most one can expect per day.\u201d<\/p>\n
The response to the 2,000 billable hour issue, from attorneys in the US and Canada, was touching.<\/p>\n
From mid-sized to Big Law, lawyers phoned my office after 3 p.m. Pacific which made it 6 p.m. east coast time when most support staff had left for the day. (I ran phone numbers through a reverse look-up service to verify their origin, often seeing a photo and description on their firm\u2019s web page.)<\/p>\n
I listened as young lawyers poured out their heart to me, some who had read this column all throughout law school.<\/p>\n
YouTube Helps Us Cheat<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you used the term, sweatshop, that describes our job environment perfectly,\u201d said \u201cClaudia\u201d \u201cRex\u201d and \u201cTim\u201d \u2014 on speaker \u2014 from New York.<\/p>\n
Rex felt, \u201cThis place is just plain toxic \u2014 a prison where we are inmates. When we were in law school and attended the firm\u2019s summer camp, it was all fun, but no one ever told us that, when hired, we would become slaves to the billable hour.\u201d<\/p>\n
To Claudia, \u201cYou can\u2019t fulfill a 2000 hour billing goal honestly. It is impossible. But YouTube billing tutorials by other lawyers were great \u2014 they showed us how to bill creatively, or, in other words, commit billing fraud! (She took me to YouTube sites, where one attorney said, \u2018Sure, while you are taking a shower, driving to work, even sleeping, bill the time you are thinking of clients\u2019 cases.\u201d)<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, when you wrote that the pressure and insane time demands destroys families and leads to being divorced, burnout, depression and substance abuse, you have described most lawyers here, on their second marriage \u2013 at least.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tim observed: \u201cMany attorneys who have been here several years have \u2018I hate this place\u2019 stamped on their forehead. I do not know a single colleague who can claim being happy to come to work, despite the money.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot in our pre-law university classes or law school was any of this reality ever discussed. I am looking for a job with the county or city because I do not want to become a static. I want a normal life, dinner with my family, taking our kids out for a trip to the park. I want to be a real husband and father, not someone who is married to the firm!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cManagement Gets It \u2014 We\u2019re Going to Change\u201d<\/p>\n
One Kansas City (KS) law firm was different.<\/p>\n
\u201cMr. Beaver,\u201d \u201cMonique\u201d said, \u201cyour column is very popular here and is frequently discussed in office meetings. \u00a0So, when your AI story ran, there was quite a buzz!<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the partners called for a meeting and said, \u00a0\u201cWe should send Mr. Beaver a box of Kansas City steaks! His AI story brought out into the open something we have all been aware of and, I\u2019m sure, bothered by.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust so everyone knows, management gets it. We have been exploring old-fashioned ways to bill for services, just like Beaver referenced in his article. Please give us some time. Please trust us to make things better.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Talk about putting useful information to work \u2014 our recent article on how some lawyers are using AI…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":310240,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152,729,24983,727,719,721,1429],"class_list":["post-310239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news","tag-complaint","tag-extortion","tag-issues-in-ethics","tag-justice","tag-law","tag-lawyer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=310239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/310240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}