Billable Hours on Steroids

     A relatively recent phenomenon in the world of billable hours has been the introduction by certain insurance companies of a more rigorous and exacting way of billing for one's time.  Although there are variations in how such companies require that billing be done, most of these companies require that their outside lawyers not engage in "block billing."  Block billing means that a lawyer lists more than one task in an increment of time that is greater than six minutes.  For example, a lawyer who bills 3.7 hours for a client during a particular day may engage in six different tasks (e.g., drafting a letter, engaging in telephone conferences, performing legal research, drafting a memorandum, etc.) during that time frame.  Traditionally, a lawyer who spends 3.7 hours performing six different tasks for the same case or transaction would simply describe each of those tasks and record that it took 3.7 hours to do them as a group.  According to the model now espoused by many insurance companies, a lawyer would need to break down the amount of time spent on each of the six different tasks for that day, rather than simply stating that it took 3.7 hours total to do them.  In addition, clients who do not allow block billing will often refuse to pay for conferences between lawyers within a particular firm, and refuse to pay for any time necessarily spent by a lawyer in traveling.