Opinion: Clients Deserve Billing Breaks for Lawyers' Extra Bar Exam Time
This opinion piece, authored by Lawton W. Hawkins and published in The Wall Street Journal, responds to a previous report regarding the increasing frequency with which law students receive additional time accommodations for the bar exam. The author highlights the perceived irony that future lawyers, who belong to a profession strictly committed to billing clients by the hour, are often granted extra time for their licensing examinations. Hawkins suggests a satirical yet pointed solution: if lawyers require additional time for professional certification due to individual needs, this precedent should logically extend to their billing practices. He proposes that attorneys note this need for extra time on their billing statements. Consequently, clients should be entitled to a corresponding accommodation in the form of reduced bills. The commentary serves as a critique of the legal profession's billing structures, using the context of bar exam accommodations to argue for greater fairness and transparency for clients who pay for legal services. It underscores the tension between professional accommodations for practitioners and the financial expectations placed upon their clients.
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Opinion: Clients Deserve Billing Breaks for Lawyers' Extra Bar Exam Time
This opinion piece, authored by Lawton W. Hawkins and published in The Wall Street Journal, responds to a previous report regarding the increasing frequency with which law students receive additional time accommodations for the bar exam. The author highlights the perceived irony that future lawyers, who belong to a profession strictly committed to billing clients by the hour, are often granted extra time for their licensing examinations. Hawkins suggests a satirical yet pointed solution: if lawyers require additional time for professional certification due to individual needs, this precedent should logically extend to their billing practices. He proposes that attorneys note this need for extra time on their billing statements. Consequently, clients should be entitled to a corresponding accommodation in the form of reduced bills. The commentary serves as a critique of the legal profession's billing structures, using the context of bar exam accommodations to argue for greater fairness and transparency for clients who pay for legal services. It underscores the tension between professional accommodations for practitioners and the financial expectations placed upon their clients.
WSJ.com : U.S. News