Not surprisingly, the facts of the case are disputed. But the 42 year old Mr. Farmer says he uncovered over 450 hours of overcharges in a one year period and “quit probing” after uncovering 60 incidents. Then he did the right thing, going to a partner charged with ethics oversight. After nothing happened for months, Farmer left for another, less prominent firm. The case is now under investigation by the Illinois Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Commission.

I hate reading stories like this. It is always troubling when employees who believe they are doing the right thing walk out the door when they believe justice has not been done. What a loss for the organization and the individual.

Just as troubling to me on this Labor Day, however, is how this story reinforces the reputation that many lawyers and, alas, some consultants have in the eyes of clients. In a ten year old survey by William Ross, a professor at Samford University's Cumberland School of Law, two-thirds of the attorneys (and three-fourths of the clients) reported knowledge of bill padding. Somehow I doubt that perceptions have improved markedly since.

At Ethical Leadership Group, much of our work is done based on hourly billing arrangements, and the rest is fee or project based. Neither method is perfect. Hourly billing arrangements do not provide a direct incentive for high efficiency; project based fees do not provide a direct incentive for quality assurance and attention to the details. While bill padding of the type alleged by Mr. Farmer is inconceivable to me, we recognize that we must be driven by integrity and client service to give clients the quality and value they deserve. No matter the billing method, clients deserve great work at an honest price. Anything else and we jeopardize our clients’ trust.

And that’s why stories like this are so aggravating. Without trust, we all lose.