[textbook]Traversing the Ethical Minefield Problems, Law, and Professional Responsibility by Susan R. Martyn (z-lib.org)(1) (1)

hearing committee and the board erred in not concluding that Fordham’s fee was clearly
excessive. . . .
The fact that this court has not previously had occasion to discipline an attorney in the
circumstances of this case does not suggest that the imposition of discipline in this case
offends due process.
In charging a clearly excessive fee, Fordham departed substantially from the obligation
of professional responsibility that he owed to his client. The ABA Model Standards for
Imposing Lawyer Sanctions §7.3 (1992) endorses a public reprimand as the appropriate
sanction for charging a clearly excessive fee. We deem such a sanction appropriate in this
case. . . .
Lawrence J. Fox
Raise the Bar: Real World Solutions for a Troubled Profession
15-27 (ABA 2007)
End Billable Hour Goals. . . Now
We are delighted you have selected Austen Dental Services for all your dental needs.
We look forward to providing you with high quality cost effective services. Our team of
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virtue of their professional commitment to you, but also because the very best of them will
be offered partnership in our great organization. To that end, we are sure you will be
pleased to learn that we will charge for our services on an hourly basis. To demonstrate
their dedication, we require our young dentists to record at least 2,000 billable hours per
year, with bonuses if the dentist should achieve benchmarks of hourly dedication beyond
2,000.
* * *
Hourly billing has been with the legal profession a very long time. The evolution from
one line bills “for professional services” to billing on the basis of precise calculation of time
began when clients, particularly those with in-house counsel, as well as insurance
companies that hire lawyers to represent insureds, looked for greater accountability and
precision in the way they were charged for lawyer services. What started as an innovation
grudgingly accepted by law firms, soon became the gold standard, applied almost
universally to this day, despite numerous objections and staunch advocates in favor of
alternative billing methods.
From accepting hourly billing, it was not very long before the tracking of time became
not only a basis for preparing invoices but also a welcomed, even celebrated, management
tool. Raise the hourly rate $5 or $10 and the revenue went right to the bottom line. Get
each lawyer to add one billable hour per month, per week or per day, and you achieved the
same results. Review time accounting records and you could rank order not just associates,
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