@engineer,
I used to audit law firms for a major insurance company (from '95 to '98 and then I was in-house training other auditors for another year and then working as a data analyst in '99 and very early '00). It's not a fun job. I've had stuff thrown at me.
Still, I would
love to go back to it and audit his lawyers' books. Because if they're billing 16 years' worth of work in 6 months, then that should be the equivalent of 32 top dollar attorneys devoting 100% of their time to these matters.
Not junior associates and not even paralegals.
Even if we throw in a cheaper biller here and there (and you would need a few in order to match the dollar amount), we're still easily left with over 20 top dollar lawyers on these matters for 100% of their time.
That's a lot, even for complex matters.
How many times did top dollar lawyers bill for junk like scheduling depositions or filing uncontested motions with the courts? Those are the kinds of things that paralegals or clerks/secretaries do, or even very junior associates/law students. Giving scut work to top dollar lawyers is a pretty classic way to overcharge a client.