Paying for legal services can get expensive, even under the best of circumstances. With that in mind, it's also important to remember that you have a right to see a full accounting of what you paid for and why it was billed. If you suspect your attorney has overbilled you, you may be wondering what your options even are. Let's look into what you need to do in such a situation.
Figure out the Numbers
The very first challenging is coming up with a number for how much you might have been overbilled by. Professionals call this process legal fee auditing.
In a legal fee audit, you need to send a request to the law firm that is or was representing you. Ask them to produce a detailed and itemized report of all the billings they've sent you, and request that it be sent in print. A legal fee auditing firm can then take the documents shipped to you, scan them, and analyze where there might have been problems.
What Are You Going to See?
The thing that's a little bit awkward about an audit of legal fees is that some lawyers sneak in extra billings, but it's also very possible the explanation is innocent. Extra billings may include things like 65-minute sessions being rounded up to two hours, straight-up double billings, and excessive fees for filing. Regardless of why excessive billing occurred, you have the right to demand a refund of your fees.
What Are Your Options?
As a matter of good form, it's normal to send a letter to the firm providing attorney services explaining what your concerns are, how you arrived at this conclusion, and what amount of money you're seeking to get back in return. This is fundamentally a demand letter.
The law firm should be given a little bit of time to respond to your letter. Don't be afraid to politely provide them a few reminders. If all else fails, you should be prepared to file a lawsuit to recover the excessive fees. Remember, you're dealing with lawyers. They wouldn't respect you if you didn't observe the grand American tradition of litigation disputes.
Presenting a Claim or a Case
With the data from the legal fee audit, your goal is simply to show which billings were excessive and when they occurred. Your goal should be to get your money back, not necessarily to prove fraud, which can be tricky.
Share21 November 2019
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