Legal Billing Red Flags and How to Spot Them

Legal Billing Red Flags and How to Spot Them

Legal billing has always required close attention, but according to Lauren Burnside of Mitratech, today’s corporate legal departments face increasing pressure to manage it with greater precision.  

Burnside cites data from the Association of Corporate Counsel, indicating that outside counsel now accounts for 87% of total external legal spending. This places the responsibility on in-house teams to closely control costs, ensure billing compliance, and streamline reviews, particularly as budgets tighten and workloads rise.

Unfortunately, many law departments still rely on outdated or fragmented billing processes. Manual invoice reviews consume valuable attorney time, while inconsistent enforcement of billing guidelines leads to unnecessary overspending and internal frustration.  

Billing errors, ranging from unauthorized charges to duplicate line items, often go undetected or unchallenged, eroding trust and credibility with finance teams. Worse still, when firms violate rules and aren’t held accountable, legal departments may unintentionally be training them to ignore established billing terms.

Burnside’s article suggests that managing partners should also pay attention to another critical issue: the misuse of top legal talent. When senior lawyers are assigned line-item reviews, firms are using their most expensive resources for low-value tasks. Shifting invoice review to dedicated specialists, supported by AI and automation, can unlock faster cycle times, higher accuracy, and more strategic outcomes.

Ultimately, firms that adopt technology-enabled billing systems gain more than just efficiency. With platforms that combine automated compliance checks and analytics with expert insights, law departments can identify actionable trends and ensure every dollar works harder.

Clients are under pressure to modernize legal billing, and they will increasingly demand transparency, accuracy, and value. Firms that recognize and embrace this shift will be better positioned to strengthen client relationships and retain them.