A racket in retreat.Among the many billing problems that encourage mischief A specific injury or damage caused by another person's action or inaction. In Civil Law, a person who suffered physical injury due to the Negligence of another person could allege mischief in a lawsuit in tort. , two show signs of reform. One involves lawyers, the other political consultants. For lawyers, it's billable hours Billable Hours is a Canadian comedy series, which airs on Showcase. Set in the fictional Toronto law firm of Fagen & Harrison, the series focuses on three young lawyers struggling to balance their expectations in life with the difficult realities of building a career ; with consultants, it's percentage billing. The billable hour requires lawyers to break down their day into time segments, often as short as fifteen minutes, and assign each segment to work for a specific client. The practice tempts lawyers to lie about the time or work too hard. In many cases, they do both. The result is inflated bills to the client and exhausted lawyers. The good news is that the clients are waking up, with the dash of cold water sometimes coming in the form of a bill for more than twenty-four hours of work in the same day from the same lawyer. The result, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Slate's Lisa Lerer, is that clients are insisting on negotiating flat fees. As for political consultants, the racket involved taking a percentage of the "buy," the major element of which is usually television time. This tempts the consultant to play Iago, constantly whispering into the client's ear that more television commercials in New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of or Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. or wherever will guarantee victory at the polls. This billing system cost the 2004 Kerry campaign $9 million, paid to just five consultants, led by Robert Shrum. But this year, according to the New York Times, the New York Times, The Morning daily newspaper, long the U.S. newspaper of record. From its establishment in 1851 it has aimed to avoid sensationalism and to appeal to cultured, intellectual readers. top Democratic candidates have joined the Republicans in negotiating flat fees or placing a cap on the amount the consultant can charge. The fact that Clinton consultant Mark Penn took away $3.8 million for January alone suggests that reform still has a way to go. Charles Peters is the founding editor of the Washington Monthly. |
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