A recent Boston Globe story, “$540,000 Overcharged Sheds Light on Law Firm Bills” reports that an arbitrator has concluded Goodwin Procter overstaffed and overbilled legal work for a real estate client.  The arbitrator, Jeffrey Martin, found the law firm submitted vague bills, used too many employees to draft documents, and failed to deliver on a promised discount.  Martin ordered Goodwin to cut its $1.1 million invoice by 55 percent, a reduction of more than $540,000 for the client, Northland Investment Corp.

The Globe reports, “the arbitrator’s finding calls into question the business model Goodwin and many other large law firms have relied on for decades: deploying huge legal teams to pursue clients’ cases, often assigning more than a dozen lawyers to compile research, conduct depositions, and draft motions.”  The story says Martin listed theses charges as questionable: more than 206 hours of work by six employees to draft a complaint and injunction request, nearly 103 hours for seven employees to draft another document, and almost 65 hours for five employees to prepare a motion hearing.