In-House Counsel

Keep multiple approvals of law firm invoices to a minimum

By Rees Morrison

Authorization levels when lawyers review outside counsel bills are typically set by the financial department, not by the law department. I suppose a general counsel could lower the level, but that makes little sense. The invoice approval level should mean that only infrequently must a higher ranking in-house lawyer provide a second approval. What can that lawyer, remote from the fray, pick out of the fog of words?

Several previous posts address invoice approval and authorization levels (See my post of Aug. 21, 2005: routings and authorization of bills; Aug. 24, 2005: a bank?s authorization levels; April 26, 2006; rank and authorization level; May 18, 2007: back office costs of bill review; Oct. 15, 2007: client gatekeepers for bills; and Nov. 10, 2007: three-way sign-offs on invoices.).

Full post as published by Law Department Management on April 13, 2009 (boomark / email).