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FALSE BILLING BY LAWYERS COMMON
NATHAN KOPPEL, WALL STREET JOURNAL - There's a whole lot of bill padding
going on according to a just-completed billing survey by William G.
Ross, a professor at Samford University's Cumberland School of Law who
specializes in billing ethics. Ross polled 5,000 attorneys from various
walks of life throughout the country, and 251 responded. . . Two-thirds
said they had "specific knowledge" of bill padding a finding virtually
identical to one reached by Ross in a 1995 billing survey. Also, 54.6%
of the respondents (as compared with 40.3% in 1995) admitted that they
had sometimes performed unnecessary tasks just to bump up their billable
output. Ross says that bill padding involves invoicing a client for work
never performed  or exaggerating the amount of time spent on a
matterÂ- while unnecessary work is that which "exceeds any marginal
utility" to a client.
http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2007/05/01/study-suggests-significant-billing-abuse/
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CONGRESS MEMBERS BULLY COLLEGES FOR RECORDING INDUSTRY
CONSUMERIST - "If we do not receive acceptable answers, Congress will be
forced to act," said Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), the ranking member of
the House Judiciary Committee after sending a chiding letter and
"survey" to 20 U.S. universities thought to have the "greatest amount of
online piracy." Lamar's threats were vague but are definitely not
connected to the fact that in the last election cycle, he received
$7,500 in campaign contributions from the RIAA Political Action
Committee as well as $2,000 from the Warner Music Political Action
Committee. A group called "Texans for Lamar Smith"pocketed a cool $1,000
from Andy Lack, the Chairman and CEO of Sony/BMG, as well as another
$1,000 from the Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. Political Action
Committee. . .
Howard Berman (D-Calif.), a co-signer of the letter told Variety: "By
answering the survey, universities will be required to examine how they
address piracy on their campuses." Berman received $3,500 in
contributions from the RIAA PAC. He also grabbed $2,100 from David
Geffen, $2,100 from Jeffrey Katzenberg, and $2,100 from Steven
Spielberg. Even though Berman is from California, he received $22,700
from 23 individuals living in New York. People like: BMI/Executive
Robert L. Ahrold, BMI/Sr. Vice President Marvin L. Berenson, Homemaker
Clarissa A. Bronfman (she was good for $4,200!), , Edgar M. Bronfman
(another $4,200!), and Robert A. Iger, the CEO of Disney.
http://consumerist.com/consumer/bullying/congressmen-who-took-
money-from-the-riaa-send-chiding-letters-to-universities-257422.php
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
FALSE BILLING BY LAWYERS COMMON
NATHAN KOPPEL, WALL STREET JOURNAL - There's a whole lot of bill padding
going on according to a just-completed billing survey by William G.
Ross, a professor at Samford University's Cumberland School of Law who
specializes in billing ethics. Ross polled 5,000 attorneys from various
walks of life throughout the country, and 251 responded. . . Two-thirds
said they had "specific knowledge" of bill padding a finding virtually
identical to one reached by Ross in a 1995 billing survey. Also, 54.6%
of the respondents (as compared with 40.3% in 1995) admitted that they
had sometimes performed unnecessary tasks just to bump up their billable
output. Ross says that bill padding involves invoicing a client for work
never performed  or exaggerating the amount of time spent on a
matterÂ- while unnecessary work is that which "exceeds any marginal
utility" to a client.
http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2007/05/01/study-suggests-significant-billing-abuse/
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
CONGRESS MEMBERS BULLY COLLEGES FOR RECORDING INDUSTRY
CONSUMERIST - "If we do not receive acceptable answers, Congress will be
forced to act," said Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), the ranking member of
the House Judiciary Committee after sending a chiding letter and
"survey" to 20 U.S. universities thought to have the "greatest amount of
online piracy." Lamar's threats were vague but are definitely not
connected to the fact that in the last election cycle, he received
$7,500 in campaign contributions from the RIAA Political Action
Committee as well as $2,000 from the Warner Music Political Action
Committee. A group called "Texans for Lamar Smith"pocketed a cool $1,000
from Andy Lack, the Chairman and CEO of Sony/BMG, as well as another
$1,000 from the Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. Political Action
Committee. . .
Howard Berman (D-Calif.), a co-signer of the letter told Variety: "By
answering the survey, universities will be required to examine how they
address piracy on their campuses." Berman received $3,500 in
contributions from the RIAA PAC. He also grabbed $2,100 from David
Geffen, $2,100 from Jeffrey Katzenberg, and $2,100 from Steven
Spielberg. Even though Berman is from California, he received $22,700
from 23 individuals living in New York. People like: BMI/Executive
Robert L. Ahrold, BMI/Sr. Vice President Marvin L. Berenson, Homemaker
Clarissa A. Bronfman (she was good for $4,200!), , Edgar M. Bronfman
(another $4,200!), and Robert A. Iger, the CEO of Disney.
http://consumerist.com/consumer/bullying/congressmen-who-took-
money-from-the-riaa-send-chiding-letters-to-universities-257422.php
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