Becoming a partner at a prestigious law firm is the dream of many attorneys. It comes with power, prestige, and financial success. But what does it take to get there? Billable hours.
Not skill.
Not ethics.
Not integrity.
Just billable hours—the currency of the legal profession.
As a private investigator, I worked closely with divorce attorneys, criminal defense lawyers, and civil litigators, conducting financial investigations, forensic audits, and surveillance. I saw the inner workings of the legal machine, and what I learned was disturbing. Cases weren’t about justice. They were about keeping the clock running.
The System Rewards Delay, Not Resolution
The legal industry thrives on prolonging cases. A quick resolution means fewer billable hours. So, what happens?
- Divorce Attorneys: Encouraging months—if not years—of unnecessary litigation, even when a fair settlement is already on the table.
- Criminal Defense Attorneys: Dragging out cases with motion after motion, knowing a plea deal was always the likely outcome.
- Civil Litigators: Pushing for endless depositions and discovery requests, not to build a case, but to pad the bill.
The clients suffer, but the attorneys prosper.
The Playbook: How Billable Hours Are Inflated
If you were to reverse-engineer the path to partner, it’s clear that padding the hours is the way up. Here’s how it’s done:
✔️ Deliberate Overcomplication – What could be a straightforward case is turned into a legal maze, requiring more research, more motions, and more hearings.
✔️ Postponement Games – Continuances and delays are strategically used to extend cases, ensuring that clients keep paying for “preparation” that leads nowhere.
✔️ Churning the Case – Attorneys on both sides quietly cooperate, exchanging unnecessary filings just to keep the billable hour counter running.
✔️ Using Experts When None Are Needed – Bringing in forensic accountants, psychologists, or private investigators—not to strengthen a case, but to add more expenses.
✔️ Encouraging Conflict – Especially in family law, clients are advised to fight for the sake of fighting, ensuring emotional exhaustion and financial ruin—all while their attorney “fights for them” at $500 an hour.
The Malpractice Question: When Does It Cross the Line?
The irony is that the very tactics that make an attorney successful in their firm are also grounds for malpractice. The burden of proof in a legal malpractice case includes:
Failing to act in the client’s best interest:
• Taking unnecessary steps that increased fees
• Ignoring resolutions that would have benefited the client
• Engaging in conduct that caused harm beyond legal fees
And yet, the system is so rigged in favor of attorneys, these cases are rarely won.
Walking Away From It All
I saw it firsthand. I was the investigator hired to get evidence, only to watch as attorneys ignored it, instead demanding more surveillance, more reports, more hours—all for their own gain.
I left the industry because I couldn’t stomach the injustice within the justice system. I watched good people lose everything because they trusted their attorney, not realizing they were simply another case file in a firm’s portfolio of revenue streams.
The path to partner isn’t about winning cases—it’s about dragging them out.
The legal system isn’t broken. It works exactly as designed—to ensure attorneys win, at any cost.
What Comes Next?
At Perimeter Agency, we’re doing things differently. We’re not attorneys. We’re trained negotiators who know the system inside and out. We help people avoid the pitfalls, see through the manipulation, and take control of their case—without being bled dry.
The goal isn’t to win at all costs. The goal is to end things fairly and move forward while keeping your money for your children and not giving it to your attorney.
If you’re tired of being a pawn in the billable hours game, let’s talk.
• DM us or read more about our Mediation Services.
• Contact us about our prenuptial mediation services.
• Don’t let your divorce be a career milestone for your attorney.