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Thread: Former Ohio law firm managing partner is suspended for overbilling.

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    Former Ohio law firm managing partner is suspended for overbilling.

    Former managing partner is suspended for 'ditto mark' overbilling, taking credit for associate work.

    A former managing partner of Ohio law firm Weston Hurd has been suspended for billing misconduct discovered after he was accused of taking credit for an associate’s work. Scott Clifford Smith was suspended for two years and ordered to pay more than $20,000 in restitution for fraudulently billing 124 hours of work, according to a Dec. 19 Ohio Supreme Court decision (PDF). The court affirmed findings by Ohio’s Board of Professional Conduct but rejected its recommended sanction of an indefinite suspension. The Legal Profession Blog published a summary from the Ohio Supreme Court’s website.


    Read the opinion, it's pretty egregious: http://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/rod...-Ohio-9087.pdf


    Scott and I went to law school together and graduated together. This firm I know very well and is a direct competitor of mine. All I can say is "wow". I am a little surprised that the suspension wasn't indefinite -- which leads me wondering if there's something more there.
    Any time you give a man something he doesn't earn, you cheapen him. Our kids earn what they get, and that includes respect. -- Woody Hayes​

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    Bethere (12-22-2017),Peter1469 (12-22-2017)

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    I dont think this is anything new, he just got caught.

    Theres 7 lawyers in my wife and I families, weve had many conversations. Its like anything else theres good and theres bad in all professions.

    One thing I was told more than once, do not allow arbitrary billing as you go along. Demand a full price up front and ask that anything incurring addtional billing be brought to you prior to it being done.
    LETS GO BRANDON
    F Joe Biden

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    Peter1469 (12-22-2017)

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    Per minute per task billing is an increasingly dated model only used by large firms oriented toward churning fees.

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    Quote Originally Posted by DGUtley View Post
    Former managing partner is suspended for 'ditto mark' overbilling, taking credit for associate work.

    A former managing partner of Ohio law firm Weston Hurd has been suspended for billing misconduct discovered after he was accused of taking credit for an associate’s work. Scott Clifford Smith was suspended for two years and ordered to pay more than $20,000 in restitution for fraudulently billing 124 hours of work, according to a Dec. 19 Ohio Supreme Court decision (PDF). The court affirmed findings by Ohio’s Board of Professional Conduct but rejected its recommended sanction of an indefinite suspension. The Legal Profession Blog published a summary from the Ohio Supreme Court’s website.


    Read the opinion, it's pretty egregious: http://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/rod...-Ohio-9087.pdf


    Scott and I went to law school together and graduated together. This firm I know very well and is a direct competitor of mine. All I can say is "wow". I am a little surprised that the suspension wasn't indefinite -- which leads me wondering if there's something more there.
    Grad school was wild. I, too, met my life's major competitors then. All fields, and I met them in class. Time reveals all. Doesn't it?

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