Randy Cohen, who writes The Ethicist column for the NY Times, answered a question that gets raised a whole lot in the legal profession, but I'd never seen raised by a consultant until now--if you spend an hour doing research that contributes to more than one client's project, can you bill that hour to all the clients?
In the legal profession, it's called "double billing" and, when I was practicing, opinions were mixed on whether one should do it. I think the recent trend of thought on the matter is probably against it. In general, lawyers are trying to get away from the whole billable hour concept and experiment with alternatives, like flat fees.
But it's interesting to see this issue raised by a consultant. So far, none of my clients' work has presented me with such a situation. In any case, I agree with Cohen's response.
No comments:
Post a Comment