Legal practitioners, especially those employed by large firms are extremely conscious of the number of billing hours they charge to their clients. They have to keep track of every aspect of a case or an assignment because every phone call, fax, email or court appearance is charged. Some activities generate more income than others. That is why statistics for lawyers are deemed an important part of their professional lives.
Legal practices are businesses. They have to earn their money by representing clients. Their stock is not consumables but rather expertise. They therefore need to keep track of exactly what expertise they are extending to any specific client. Because billing is done by hour, normally, it is necessary to keep records of exactly what it is that was done for the client in the hour that he is billed for.
Most attorneys have teams working with them. The members of the team have various skills and they are paid according to seniority and qualifications. A highly paid attorney will therefore delegate time consuming routine tasks to a junior. This allows the higher paid attorney to work on cases that will earn more money. It is necessary to keep very accurate records when an entire team works on a specific case.
Big legal firms vie for the business of large corporations. They can only succeed if they are able to show accurate records proving their success rate in court, their ability to handle a wide variety of cases and their ability to deal with matters speedily. In order to do this, they must record every aspect of every case that they handle.
Most large legal firms keep extensive records of the entire legal industry, including the performance of other firms and even individual legal experts at other firms. This information can be useful for marketing purposes and occasionally they are even used to recruit promising attorneys from other firms. Industry records are also used to compare the success of the firm.
When an attorney accepts a case on a contingency basis he will only receive a fee if the case is concluded successfully. This means that he must be very careful when accepting such cases because a loss in the court will mean that the client will not be paying for the time spent. Extensive records are used to study the success probability of a case before a decision such as this is made.
Many clients are uneasy with being charged hourly rates. They have no way of budgeting and they do not know what the case will cost. That is why many attorneys charge flat rates for certain routine matters. They can do this because their records over a long period of time tells them how much work is involved with a specific type of case.
Accurate statistics can be extremely valuable for any legal firm. It helps them to bill precisely and to measure their own performance. Long term records can also be useful in the marketing of the firm and in determining the exact nature of the contribution made by every member of the firm.
Legal practices are businesses. They have to earn their money by representing clients. Their stock is not consumables but rather expertise. They therefore need to keep track of exactly what expertise they are extending to any specific client. Because billing is done by hour, normally, it is necessary to keep records of exactly what it is that was done for the client in the hour that he is billed for.
Most attorneys have teams working with them. The members of the team have various skills and they are paid according to seniority and qualifications. A highly paid attorney will therefore delegate time consuming routine tasks to a junior. This allows the higher paid attorney to work on cases that will earn more money. It is necessary to keep very accurate records when an entire team works on a specific case.
Big legal firms vie for the business of large corporations. They can only succeed if they are able to show accurate records proving their success rate in court, their ability to handle a wide variety of cases and their ability to deal with matters speedily. In order to do this, they must record every aspect of every case that they handle.
Most large legal firms keep extensive records of the entire legal industry, including the performance of other firms and even individual legal experts at other firms. This information can be useful for marketing purposes and occasionally they are even used to recruit promising attorneys from other firms. Industry records are also used to compare the success of the firm.
When an attorney accepts a case on a contingency basis he will only receive a fee if the case is concluded successfully. This means that he must be very careful when accepting such cases because a loss in the court will mean that the client will not be paying for the time spent. Extensive records are used to study the success probability of a case before a decision such as this is made.
Many clients are uneasy with being charged hourly rates. They have no way of budgeting and they do not know what the case will cost. That is why many attorneys charge flat rates for certain routine matters. They can do this because their records over a long period of time tells them how much work is involved with a specific type of case.
Accurate statistics can be extremely valuable for any legal firm. It helps them to bill precisely and to measure their own performance. Long term records can also be useful in the marketing of the firm and in determining the exact nature of the contribution made by every member of the firm.
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