In addition to reviewing legal bills in insurance defense cases, I also review bills in other legal areas involving commercial law, trust and estate law, family law, bankruptcy law, and criminal defense law. In fact, I have reviewed legal bills in one of the largest bankruptcy cases to go before the U.S. Supreme Court and I am currently reviewing legal bills in a high profile white collar criminal case.
When asked to review legal bills in a non-insurance defense matter, I am invariably asked what standards will I apply in reviewing the legal bills. And I invariably reply, I use the same standards that I apply when reviewing legal bills in insurance defense cases.
Although different standards of law may apply in different practice areas, there are some uniform standards that apply in all legal practice areas. And one uniform standard is that the same ethical rules pertaining to billing for fees and costs apply equally in all types of practice areas. That is to say that there is not one set of standards for reviewing legal bills that apply only to criminal defense lawyers or only to bankruptcy lawyers or family law lawyers and one set of standards that apply only to insurance defense lawyers.
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