I am responding to the above complaint that was received on Monday July 13, 2015. Parts of thecomplaint I cannot comment on as there could potentially be legal action initiated. I can comment onour billing practices and billing system.First, the complaint you received is factually inaccurate in its...
entirety. Ms. [redacted] is angry thatshe was not hired as a full time employee after her agreed upon externship. Her externship was limitedto working on marketing initiatives and did not have direct knowledge of how our billing system worked.Per bar guidelines we only bill for time that advances our client's case; we absolutely adhere to thisstandard 100% of the time. We NEVER bill for administrative time on any of our cases. In the event anattorney or paralegal has to discuss receiving payment from a client that is no charged as well. Ms.[redacted] bill was never changed, she received monthly invoices, in fact she received 7 invoices duringher employment here which accurately reflected the work done on her case and not one was changed.Prior to her employment she received invoices twice a month that accurately reflected all of the workdone on her case. We have NEVER inflated our bills and our administrative employees do NOT receivebonuses on billing because they do not bill on cases. They receive performance based bonuses based onhow well they perform. As an attorney we cannot fee share with a non-attorney and we strictly adhereto that rule.Second, Ms. [redacted] and I did have a conversation about the negative online reviews. She Is notaccurate in her account of that conversation however. The negative feedback that we received aboutour billing is not that we inflate our billing it is because the invoices are confusing to some clients. Weuse reputable legal billing software, Clio, to do our invoicing, but at times it is confusing for clients withregards to trust accounting and operating accounting. Whenever a client is confused, our administrativestaff takes the time to walk them through their bills to help them understand. Ms. [redacted] uses theterm billing to refer to inflating the amount billed. Any conversation that occurred regarding billing wasin reference to the "billing" system itself and the confusion related to the way it reads on the invoice.Some clients have complained about the amount of the bill because they didn't want our services tocost as much as they did, but I have never received a complaint that any of the actual time entries wereinaccurate. That is due to our written policies and procedures on how to write time entries and what tobill for and what not to bill for and the training that each of our legal team receives on how to bill. Ms.[redacted] did not personally receive this training because she was an administrative employee and didnot bill on any of our clients.
Finally, this complaint is completely inaccurate and baseless. Our files are impeccable and all ofour employees would agree with the statements I have made in this response.Thank you and if you require any additional information on this matter do not hesitate to askme. I would be happy to have other staff members write letters to confirm the above statements if thatis necessary.
Sincerely,
Lewis L[redacted]
Landerholm Law, LLC
Owner/Principal Attorney
I am responding to the above complaint that was received on Monday July 13, 2015. Parts of thecomplaint I cannot comment on as there could potentially be legal action initiated. I can comment onour billing practices and billing system.First, the complaint you received is factually inaccurate in its...
entirety. Ms. [redacted] is angry thatshe was not hired as a full time employee after her agreed upon externship. Her externship was limitedto working on marketing initiatives and did not have direct knowledge of how our billing system worked.Per bar guidelines we only bill for time that advances our client's case; we absolutely adhere to thisstandard 100% of the time. We NEVER bill for administrative time on any of our cases. In the event anattorney or paralegal has to discuss receiving payment from a client that is no charged as well. Ms.[redacted] bill was never changed, she received monthly invoices, in fact she received 7 invoices duringher employment here which accurately reflected the work done on her case and not one was changed.Prior to her employment she received invoices twice a month that accurately reflected all of the workdone on her case. We have NEVER inflated our bills and our administrative employees do NOT receivebonuses on billing because they do not bill on cases. They receive performance based bonuses based onhow well they perform. As an attorney we cannot fee share with a non-attorney and we strictly adhereto that rule.Second, Ms. [redacted] and I did have a conversation about the negative online reviews. She Is notaccurate in her account of that conversation however. The negative feedback that we received aboutour billing is not that we inflate our billing it is because the invoices are confusing to some clients. Weuse reputable legal billing software, Clio, to do our invoicing, but at times it is confusing for clients withregards to trust accounting and operating accounting. Whenever a client is confused, our administrativestaff takes the time to walk them through their bills to help them understand. Ms. [redacted] uses theterm billing to refer to inflating the amount billed. Any conversation that occurred regarding billing wasin reference to the "billing" system itself and the confusion related to the way it reads on the invoice.Some clients have complained about the amount of the bill because they didn't want our services tocost as much as they did, but I have never received a complaint that any of the actual time entries wereinaccurate. That is due to our written policies and procedures on how to write time entries and what tobill for and what not to bill for and the training that each of our legal team receives on how to bill. Ms.[redacted] did not personally receive this training because she was an administrative employee and didnot bill on any of our clients.
Finally, this complaint is completely inaccurate and baseless. Our files are impeccable and all ofour employees would agree with the statements I have made in this response.Thank you and if you require any additional information on this matter do not hesitate to askme. I would be happy to have other staff members write letters to confirm the above statements if thatis necessary.
Sincerely,
Lewis L[redacted]
Landerholm Law, LLC
Owner/Principal Attorney