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Not Snow, Nor Sleet, Nor Gadget Will Kill the Billable Hour

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Classification:Billable Hours
 
Date Published:08/31/1998
 
Title:Not Snow, Nor Sleet, Nor Gadget Will Kill the Billable Hour
 
Source:NLJ /Lawyers and Technology /Wendy R Leibowitz
 
Summary:

Prediction that high-tech tools would increase legal efficiency and end the billable hour did not come true. As technology began to spread, many analysts predicted that automation would allow attorneys to work more efficiently.
Despite the investment in efficiency, most firm's billing remains hourly.

Investments are growing in technology that allows lawyers to bill more time.
A system called TOM, or Total Office Managment, developed by lawyers at Edwardsville, Ill's Burroughs, Hepler, Broom, MacDonald & Hebrank, has many components from calendars, file and document management, to pop-up screens that help an attorney enter phone calls, meetings, and other taskes continuously, thus increasing acuracy in billing. It also includes ABA's task-based billing codes. 1 page

ABA Hyperlinks posted: www.abanet.org/tech/ltrc/98survey.html

 

[Revised: 06-30-2004]