Transparency is a topic that has been in the news this week. Regardless of political stripes, everyone must have chuckled when the CBC took out an ad to proclaim their commitment to transparency, while refusing to disclose very basic information on the same day.
What does transparency have to do with law? Well, it’s the first of the month, which means it’s billing day at the firm. If you have recently received a lawyer’s bill, take a look at your bill.
Can you tell from the bill who worked on the file, how long they worked on each step and what you were charged for that? If not, why not ? You are the client, you deserve to understand how you are being billed.
In addition to bills, our firm is happy to provide clients with monthly reports on their legal expenses & recoveries – this tells the clients what kind of job we’re doing for them. Does your firm do that? If not, why not?
Transparency. It’s not just for Crown Corporations anymore .. well, maybe that is a bad closing sentence, but you get the idea !
Inga B. Andriessen J.D.