Ethics

Billing by the itemized hour was introduced as a reform of the prior practice of sending the client an invoice reading simply:

???For Professional Services      $xxx,xxx.00.???

As noted in a comment regarding screening, it???s only if we think that lawyers are dishonest that we need to be concerned about billing practices.  (And dishonest lawyers will find a way to overcharge regardless of the mode of billing.)

Come to think of it, we don???t need codified rules of lawyers??? ethics at all unless we think that lawyers are dishonest, incompetent, and/or overreaching.

So why do we bother with billing practices, screening, or anything else?