January 26, 2026  • By Dennis Beaver

Talk about putting useful information to work — our January 13 article, Billed 12 Hours for a Few Seconds of Work: How AI Is Helping Law Firms Overcharge Clients, riled up several readers.

The article notes that some law firms are using AI to produce — in seconds — documents that would normally take hours to draft. Yet, they’re billing for those hours as if the work had been done the old way.

This lit a spark under many who read the story and had “are you kidding me?” discussions with their lawyers.

Don’t be afraid to bring it up

Beyond saying, “I think you owe me a refund,” many readers reported that they went a step further. Not wanting to be dismissed with, “That’s our bill — pay it,” they researched their state’s bar regulations on charging for work that was actually performed — the time that was, in fact, spent on the task.

“Ben,” in Cleveland, wrote, “I found a shopping list of violations that could jeopardize her license to practice law. I don’t want to be accused of extortion or blackmail. I want to say, ‘AI was used, yet I was billed as if you had done the work yourself. I expect a refund for the unearned hours. You know the consequences if I file a complaint with the bar.’

“What if she replies, ‘Don’t threaten to complain to the bar, because that is blackmail, and you’ll find yourself in trouble.”

Ben absolutely can say that. Filing a complaint with his state’s bar would not be extortion, as there is a legitimate reason. I suggested this direct, yet more diplomatic, approach:

As AI was used to generate the material, all I am asking is for a refund of what I was overcharged and nothing more. I am prepared to file that complaint, but that is not what I want to do.

Lawyers comment on 2,000-hour billing requirement

Our story also cited the destructive, inhumane, fraud-creating requirement for attorneys to bill 2,000-plus hours yearly to keep their job, which translates into expecting high-quality legal work to be produced 12 hours a day.

“Utterly impossible,” according to Dr. Luis Vega, professor of Psychology at California State University, Bakersfield. “This completely unreasonable and unachievable hour total finds decent people caught in a web of corporate greed.

“While there is individual variation, on average, four hours of intense focus is typically the most one can expect per day. It is called the Four-Hour Rule of Productivity.”

The responses to this issue, from attorneys in the U.S. and Canada, were touching.

From midsize to Big Law firms, lawyers phoned my office after 3 p.m. Pacific Time, which made it 6 p.m. on the East Coast, when most support staff had left for the day. (I ran phone numbers through a reverse look-up service to verify their origin, often seeing a photo and description on their firm’s web page.)

I listened as young lawyers poured out their hearts to me, some who had read this column throughout law school.

YouTube helps some lawyers cheat

I spoke with “Claudia,” “Rex” and “Tim” in New York, who teamed up on speakerphone. Claudia said, “When you used the term ‘sweatshop,’ that describes our job environment perfectly.”

Rex added, “This place is just plain toxic. When we were in law school and attended the firm’s summer camp, it was all fun, but no one ever told us that, when hired, we would become slaves to the billable hour.”

Claudia chimed back in with, “You can’t fulfill a 2,000-hour yearly billing goal honestly. It is impossible. But YouTube billing tutorials by other lawyers showed us how to bill creatively — in other words, commit billing fraud!”

She directed me to a YouTube video where an attorney suggested billing whatever time is spent thinking about a client’s case — while taking a shower, driving to work, even sleeping.

“So,” Claudia continued, “when you wrote that the pressure and insane time demands destroy families and lead to divorce, burnout, depression and substance abuse, you have described most lawyers here — some are on their second marriage, at least.”

Tim observed, “Many attorneys who have been here for several years virtually have ‘I hate this place’ stamped on their foreheads. I do not know a single colleague who can claim being happy to come to work, despite the money.”

He added, “Not in our pre-law university classes nor law school was any of this reality ever discussed. I am looking for a job with the county or city because I do not want to become a statistic. I want a normal life, dinner with my family, taking our kids out for a trip to the park. I want to be a real husband and father, not someone who is married to the firm!”

A promise of change

One Kansas City, Kansas, law firm was different, though.

“Mr. Beaver,” “Monique” said, “your column is very popular here and is frequently discussed in office meetings. So when your AI story ran, there was quite a buzz!

“One of the partners called for a meeting and said, ‘We should send Mr. Beaver a box of Kansas City steaks. His AI story brought out into the open something we have all been aware of and, I’m sure, bothered by.

“‘Just so everyone knows, management gets it. We have been exploring old-fashioned ways to bill for services, just like Beaver referenced in his article. Please give us some time. Please trust us to make things better.'”

Dennis Beaver Practices law in Bakersfield and welcomes comments and questions from readers,
which may be faxed to (661) 323-7993,
or e-mailed to Lagombeaver1 – at – Gmail.com.

The post ‘You Owe Me a Refund’: Readers Report Challenging Their Attorneys’ Bills appeared first on Dennis Beaver.

January 13, 2026  • By Dennis Beaver

Today’s story is an example of the old saying, “When the cat’s away, the mice will play.” In litigation, you are the cat. Your attorney’s large law firm is the mouse that bills you thousands of dollars in unjustifiable and grossly inflated — read: fraudulently inflated — attorney fees for “billable hours” your attorney did not work, but their firm made doing this the only way to remain employed.

In the mid-1900s, in an effort to increase incomes, the legal profession went from fee schedules in which creating a will, defending a DUI or handling a divorce would cost the same no matter how many hours it took, to the billable hour.

In 1958, the American Bar Association recommended a reasonable 1,300 yearly billable-hour goal, which meant a lawyer could be home for dinner with the family and lead a normal life.

Today, massive, heartless, soulless Big Law firms (and many midsize ones) require 2,200 or more billable hours, which translates into being at work 60-plus hours a week, or 10 to 12 hours a day, five days a week and often on weekends. This invites billing for time not spent on a client’s matter, also known as fraud.

This marathon destroys families and leads to multiple divorces, burnout, depression and substance abuse.

As Lyle Sussman, professor emeritus in the College of Business at the University of Louisville (and a friend of this column), puts it, “I have consulted with executives across many industries. It is ludicrous to assume that anyone assigned to high-risk, high-reward work can consistently devote 60 hours per week without experiencing declining energy, commitment, efficiency and morale.”

Withdrawal symptoms are appearing

If you are engaged to a lawyer who has been offered a job at one of these firms, ask yourself, “How happy will I be when having dinner with my spouse and kids is impossible? Do I want to be with someone who works in a sweatshop and is married to the firm?”

Well, today, the legal profession is starting to experience withdrawal symptoms as its drug of choice — overbilling clients — is being challenged by AI’s incredible time-saving abilities.

“AI is creating seismic disruption in industries built on the scanning, collection, synthesis, formatting and reporting of data,” Sussman says. And that includes the legal profession.

(For a fascinating history of billing fraud and how we got here, you can check out the article “Bill, Baby, Bill: How the Billable Hour Emerged as the Primary Method of Attorney Fee Generation” by Stuart Pardau in the Idaho Law Review. Another article, by Nancy Rapoport and Joseph Tiano Jr., both friends of this column, worth checking out is: “Fighting the Hypothetical: Why Law Firms Should Rethink The Billable Hour in the Generative AI Era,” published in the Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts.)

A real-world example

“Taylor” phoned my office from Little Rock, Arkansas, and was upset.

“My lawyer billed 12 hours for discovery in a simple debt lawsuit,” she said. “Her invoice listed ‘drafting interrogatories, requests for admissions and related written items,’ copies of which I have. We are both country gals, but these are written oddly, not the way people usually speak — they are just too polished.

“Would you please go over them and tell me what you think? I know she is being considered to become a partner in the firm, but before this, I never saw anything that raised a doubt.”

I agreed and asked for the particulars of the case — amount, services or product sold, location, date, parties and court jurisdiction.

I looked over what she sent, and Taylor was correct. The discovery requests didn’t “sound” normal. So, I ran them through three different online AI checkers. Bingo! The AI checkers indicated the documents were 88% to 95% created by AI. (For the record, AI checkers can sometimes flag original content as being created by AI, which is why I used three different tools.)

Next, using a free AI resource, I entered Taylor’s details and specified that I wanted content that was “at a sixth-grade level.” I hit enter, and almost instantly, beautifully written documents appeared. It would have taken me hours to draft the same things.

Clearly, Taylor needed to discuss the billing issues with her lawyer (we’ll call her Amanda) and challenge the number of hours. I gave Taylor tips on how to come across with a positive attitude.

A proper way to challenge the bill

• State the issue factually. This will avoid confrontation and keep the focus on the issue, not Amanda’s integrity or honesty. Taylor could say, “The discovery requests appear to have been generated by AI. As it produces drafts almost instantly, I don’t understand the several hours billed for them.”

• Ask for an explanation, but don’t make an accusation. She could say, “Can you show me how that time was calculated — what work went into the discovery that was not AI?” Let’s assume Amanda does this but can’t justify the time billed.

• Be clear and reasonable in your request for a reduction. Taylor could say, “My understanding is that bills for professional services need to reflect the actual time it took to do the work. AI is a great tool, but doesn’t the bill still need to be accurate? Can you help me understand it, or” — giving Amanda an out — “perhaps did a paralegal or secretary not realize that AI was used and billed a standard amount for the work?”

• If you get a refusal to adjust the bill, remain polite and calm. “Well, anyway, it is always a pleasure to get together with you, as we have known each other all these years, so I will discuss this with my CPA and a friend who’s also a lawyer” — the idea is to refer to another authority — “and get back to you on a resolution and whether to continue our relationship.”

Should Taylor change lawyers? Based upon my experience, yes, she needs to obtain a new lawyer. She could contest the bill with her local bar association’s fee arbitration, but even if they order a reduction, once trust is broken in the attorney/client relationship, doubt will remain forever.

This is true even if her attorney comes clean and apologizes; she’s already made her character clear. You can’t trust a lawyer who has tried to cheat you.

The billable hour has become a liability

An AI tsunami has hit the legal profession. Document review, once requiring weeks of several junior lawyers’ billable time, can now take just hours, creating an existential challenge as branches fall off the money tree.

If lawyers take a giant leap back to a time of fixed or outcome-based fees, it will be a cultural earthquake, where retention and advancement, based on “hours billed,” become meaningless.

Partner compensation dependent upon individual billings must be rethought.

Instead of fee-generation as their goal, lawyers might actually think about helping clients solve their legal problems without running up the bill.

And the billable hour may find itself in a museum display case.

Dennis Beaver Practices law in Bakersfield and welcomes comments and questions from readers,
which may be faxed to (661) 323-7993,
or e-mailed to Lagombeaver1 – at – Gmail.com.

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September 8, 2026  • By Dennis Beaver

In all states, the most common complaint filed with state bar associations by clients is that the attorney failed to return phone calls in a timely manner, or not at all.

According to data from the American Bar Association (ABA), a lack of communication and client neglect consistently rank as the most common complaints filed against attorneys nationwide. There is a direct and strong correlation between lawyers who fail to return phone calls, state bar discipline and legal malpractice.

But not only are clients being ghosted, but lawyers often ignore other attorneys, sometimes under circumstances where you might conclude the attorney has a character defect leading to irresponsibility and, at times, is using calculated behavior to play dirty, especially during hotly contested litigation.

Let me share with you concerns I have about “Diane,” an attorney whom I helped pass the California Bar Exam last year after she failed it multiple times and who may be headed for trouble.

A troubling trend

Over the years, I have worked with several law graduates — often the children of clients — who failed the bar repeatedly. They lacked good writing skills, a testament to our education system, which decades ago quit requiring weekly essays in many high schools. Once they learned how to analyze a bar exam question and write an answer in a coherent manner, they passed.

Diane was consistent when it came to confirming an appointment or showing up for lunch and a tutoring session. Often, neither texts nor emails would confirm the appointment. The courtesy of not standing me up was a foreign concept in her psyche.

Days later, she would text, “Sorry, I got so busy that I just forgot.”

So, she gets sworn in, is hired by a firm and is working in an area of the law I am writing about. I wanted to see if anything had changed. Did becoming a lawyer impact her sense of responsibility and thinking of others, especially colleagues and clients?

So, I texted and emailed her the factual basis of my question and asked for her input.

Now, as a new attorney, getting your name in a major publication is a feather in your cap and a plus for your employer, so anyone with a full deck would jump at the chance, right? Especially if asked by the person who helped them pass the bar!

Well, not Diane.

It’s as if she has “I’m Irresponsible” tattooed on her forehead — really no surprise.

Can you imagine how she will deal with clients who depend on her? Pulling those same stunts — like not showing up in court for a hearing — is an engraved invitation to put her bar license at risk.

Top complaints against lawyers

State bars across the country have a massive amount of data on lawyers who have gotten into serious trouble. In an overwhelming number of instances, complaints about a lack of returned phone calls and “failed to communicate with client” led to worse violations of our legal and ethical duties.

One bar investigator, who asked not to be identified, told me, “It took them years of study and hard work to become an attorney, but they are passive-aggressive with clients. Their message is, ‘I’ll get back to you when and if I want to.'”

He added, “With the enormous amount of lawyer advertising, when phone calls from potential clients are not returned in a timely manner, we have seen instances of the statute of limitations (to file lawsuits) being blown.

“Even when we warn them to knock it off, their irresponsible behavior continues right to the point where they face suspension, or worse.”

Failing to return a phone call to a client is one thing, but there is another closely related issue.

The Dalai Lama: ‘Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.’

Passing a state’s bar exam and being sworn in as an attorney is a license to become quite wealthy. To me, while you will never find anything in our rules of professional responsibility and legal ethics that requires giving a fraction of your time to someone who phones your office at one of the lowest points in their lives — needing someone who will listen — that act of kindness should be obvious and thought of as obligatory. If not from you, the lawyer, then from a member of your staff.

I receive many calls from people who find one of my columns that relates to their situation, call attorneys, share the specifics with a receptionist and are promised a return call that never comes. Perhaps it is not a matter the firm handles, but at least call them back and say so!

A woman who resides in Houston called our office in August. Her 78-year-old husband died in the hospital two years ago in October, so the statute of limitations on malpractice is running.

As she related his many health conditions, the finding of “natural causes” seemed supported. At such moments with a terminally ill patient, family is distraught, and in their minds, hospital personnel might seem less than kind.

I listened as “Chelsea” told me about their marriage: “He was 35 years older than me when we were married 30 years ago. He was my world, a man of integrity, and they treated him so badly.”

I explained that a malpractice case is complicated and usually difficult to prove.

We spoke for about five minutes before I asked her, “How many lawyers have you discussed this with?”

“None,” she replied. “I left messages, was promised a return call, but you are the first.”

It took only five minutes. Five minutes — the amount of time it would take to have a chat over coffee with a member of your staff or talk with your spouse. That’s an invisible amount of time in reality, but too much for all the law firms she reached out to.

“Please keep my number,” I said. “And if anything positive comes out of all of this, call me. Your husband was one of the luckiest men on the planet.”

“And I was one of the luckiest wives, as well, Mr. Beaver. God bless you for taking the time to talk with me,” she said, her tears audible.

Dennis Beaver Practices law in Bakersfield and welcomes comments and questions from readers,
which may be faxed to (661) 323-7993,
or e-mailed to Lagombeaver1 – at – Gmail.com.

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In some cases, it’ll work out better if you let it go instead of trying to force a deadbeat client, patient or customer to pay your bill.

We’ve all heard the saying “happy wife, happy life.” Of course, today, we might update the saying to “happy spouse, happy house.”

For purposes of today’s article, let’s stick with the “happy wife” version, as it is a partial key to the mess that Atlanta attorney “Josh” has found himself in.

“Dennis, my law school grades weren’t the best. I couldn’t find a decent-paying job, so I opened my own office, discovering the hard way that law school does not prepare graduates to practice law. I’ve accepted cases and clients I should have avoided, taking whatever walked in the door to make the rent payment.”

“One client was a contractor who was sued over alleged poor-quality work for a kitchen remodel. He was likable, persuasive and convinced me that it was an excellent job but the customer stiffed him.

“Relying on that, I filed suit against the homeowner. Had I done an internet search, I would have discovered my client was a crook, had been sued often and lost his contractor’s license. But I needed the money. My bad!”

“We lost the case at trial,” Josh wrote, “and there was a balance owing of about $8,000 in fees which he never paid. I felt it would have been best to forget the whole thing, but my wife insisted that I go after the guy. I didn’t want to, but she implied that if I did not, I would look weak. So, I did.”

A lawyer suing their client for fees can make it more difficult to obtain malpractice insurance. While not required in most states, any lawyer who does not carry malpractice insurance, in my opinion, is someone to be leery of.

‘Have you sued a client for your fees?’

I asked attorney malpractice underwriters, “If a lawyer answers ‘yes’ to the question on your malpractice application/renewal form, ‘Have you sued a client for your fees?’ will this have an impact on that their ability to obtain coverage?”

Every underwriter replied, “Generally, an automatic decline. We might accept the risk of our insured filing suit for fees, but their premium would be greatly increased, or we could add a provision that excludes any malpractice claim that arises out of a suit for unpaid fees.”

Avoiding the slow-pay, no-pay quagmire

Some of the ways that attorneys — and this does not only apply to lawyers —can reduce the risk of clients who fail to pay include:

– Requiring a substantial upfront cash retainer, universally requested in criminal law matters.

– Billing frequently and not hesitating to end the attorney-client relationship when fees and expenses are unpaid after a set amount of time. These conditions must be spelled out in the retainer agreement.

But a law degree and license to practice law (as well as medicine, accounting, architecture — you name it) does not mean that you have business smarts. When it comes to being paid, patience and “empathy” for a client going through tough times are contagious.

“She’s my best (client, customer, etc.). I can’t drop her,” is a frequent response to, “Why isn’t Sally paying our bills?”

Clients are consistent. Deadbeats and con artists will rip off their attorneys the way they rip off everyone. That’s why, before a lawyer agrees to representation, their best friend is Yelp and other online reputational sources. The bad reviews will save your skin!

The get-even suit for malpractice

Nationally, 40% to 60% of malpractice suits against lawyers are a direct result of the attorney suing for past-due fees.

The best way to get a lawyer suing for fees to go away is to allege the case was lost due to their negligence. Even where there is absolutely no evidence of any professional negligence, that’s the position usually taken by the attorneys who represent the insured’s former client.

I was referred to lawyers retained by legal malpractice carriers and received an earful of disturbing comments about the lawyers hired by deadbeat clients to respond to the lawyer suing for unpaid fees.

The saying “no honor among thieves” applies to certain lawyers who seem to relish representing crooked former clients, even though they know there is no legal basis for these suits.

The insurers’ attorneys acknowledged that, on occasion, their insured have committed legal malpractice, which justifies a suit against them. But, they said, when it is a matter of attorney fees alone, this is an area in our legal system where deadbeats often hire like-minded counsel.

And that is what Josh is facing. He admitted, “I should have told my wife, ‘Honey, I respect your sense of fairness, but let’s just chalk this up to a learning experience.’”

Dennis Beaver Practices law in Bakersfield and welcomes comments and questions from readers,
which may be faxed to (661) 323-7993,
or e-mailed to Lagombeaver1 – at – Gmail.com.

The post Want to sue a client for unpaid fees? That can backfire on you appeared first on Dennis Beaver.

When you meet with your attorney and paralegal, the one thing that you can count on and don’t even give a second thought to is that your conversation will be confidential.

Indeed, the attorney-client privilege — confidentiality of attorney-client communications — is the bedrock of the legal profession.

Clients are able to disclose sensitive — often embarrassing information — without fear of it being revealed, which is vital to effective legal representation.

(There are exceptions to the privilege. For example, when a client wants the lawyer’s help in committing a crime or when disclosure is necessary to prevent imminent death or substantial bodily harm.)

Smile, you’re being recorded (but no one told you)

What if, from the moment you enter your lawyer’s office, audio and video recordings are being made — without your knowledge or permission — of everything you say to the paralegals and attorneys? How would you feel?

These are not just academic questions. A credible source (she’s asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal) has told me that a local public services law firm that is partially government-funded is doing exactly that.

Additionally, as you will see, the lawyer responsible has created an atmosphere of fear — employees are afraid they’ll lose their jobs if they become whistleblowers.

The phone call

“Mr. Beaver,” my caller “Peggy” said, “I work for a non-profit law firm that provides free, civil legal services to low-income and older individuals. Several months ago, ‘Ivan’ was hired as our new managing partner. Within days, a place that we all enjoyed coming to was giving us ulcers. An atmosphere of fear, suspicion and paranoia has become part of everyday life, and it began when he installed video/audio cameras just about everywhere.

“Even though we hardly ever needed to call the police because of an unruly client, Ivan sent a note to everyone stating, ‘For safety, all staff must conduct meetings with clients and applicants in designated intake rooms monitored by security cameras that facilitate our ability to protect everyone during in-person contacts.’

“The lawyers and paralegals all know that eavesdropping on or recording clients without posting signs informing them of the video and audio recordings — and obtaining their consent — violates the law. None of us has ever been in a situation like this in our many years of working as paralegals and attorneys.”

As Peggy related, several of the firms’ attorneys and senior paralegals objected, pointing out to Ivan that in California — a two-party state — all parties must agree to the recording/video, or Penal Code 632 is violated, and that can lead to criminal penalties, including fines of up to $2,500 and/or imprisonment for up to one year.

You want to keep your job? Then shut up

“Ivan sits at his desk,” Peggy went on, “and is glued to the computer screen, focused on monitoring client discussions with attorneys and paralegals. It is creepy.”

Then she read a threatening email Ivan sent “To Staff.”

I have seen this email. Paraphrased, Ivan wrote, While I’ve heard about privacy and cameras, those things aren’t important compared to the prospect of losing one’s employment, financial stability and ability to provide food and shelter for our families.

“This was a clear threat to keep quiet,” Peggy told me, “and we are worried. We do not know what he might do. What do you advise?”

Ethical obligations of the law firm’s attorneys

I ran this troubling situation by an attorney with the State Bar of California’s Ethics Hotline. She said, “This conduct exposes the attorney to multiple counts of violating Penal Code Section 632, in addition to being sued civilly for invasion of privacy by anyone recorded without permission.”

She also pointed out a number of apparent violations of state bar rules that could land Ivan in hot water, including threatening the employees’ jobs.

The Ethics Hotline attorney also pointed out something that the attorneys in this firm now must do — they must report what’s going on to the State Bar of California. (The firm has since been reported to law enforcement.)

California’s ‘snitch law’

While all other states have for years required reporting misconduct by fellow attorneys to the appropriate authorities, California passed into law this bit of common sense only a little over two years ago.

The “snitch law” says that attorneys must report, to the state bar or other relevant authorities, fellow attorneys who have engaged in misconduct that includes criminal acts, conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or reckless misrepresentation, misappropriation of funds or property and any other conduct raising substantial questions about the lawyer’s honesty, trustworthiness or fitness to practice law.

This means that the attorney employees at this public service law firm have a duty to contact the State Bar of California and disclose what’s going on or themselves face discipline for failing to do so.

Clients want to trust their attorneys. In my decades of law practice, this is the first time I’ve ever heard anything like this. It is scary.

If falling into the wrong hands, these recordings could be the basis of extortion, tearing families apart, getting someone fired — the improper and illegal use of private, attorney/client communications threatens our very legal system.

Update: “Peggy” reported to me that “Ivan” sent an email to staff on Wednesday, the day after this article ran, that said that all cameras were being removed from the office that day. Peggy added, “Thank you very much for the assistance, your research and article!”

Dennis Beaver Practices law in Bakersfield and welcomes comments and questions from readers,
which may be faxed to (661) 323-7993,
or e-mailed to Lagombeaver1 – at – Gmail.com.

The post Why a Law Firm Secretly Recording Client Conversations Is Wrong (and Illegal) appeared first on Dennis Beaver.