US Law Firm Wins Suit Against Associates For Not Billing Enough

Above the Law report

Law Firm Wins Suit Against Associates For Not Billing Enough And All It Cost Them Was Any Semblance Of Professional Dignity

Apparently, a few thousand bucks is worth destroying your reputation.

In the early days of the pandemic, when courts closed and billable work temporarily dried up, firms had hard decisions to make. A lot of law firms weighed staying loyal to their attorneys vs. cost-cutting layoffs. Mercifully, most firms chose the former. Meanwhile, North Dakota law firm Larson Latham Huettl weighed a few thousand dollars and showing its whole ass. It chose the latter.

The firm had sued two former associates for “overpayment.” While billable targets usually implicate an attorney’s bonus or, at worst, ongoing employment, the agreement that Larson Latham Huettl devised contemplates associates paying the firm an hourly rate for any hours below the threshold. Which, of course, means that when the rest of the industry weighed whether or not to keep its workforce, the firm was actually best off keeping people on the payroll, knowing that the partners get paid either way.

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https://abovethelaw.com/2023/02/law-firm-lawsuit-not-billing-enough-professional-dignity/