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Presentations:Last update: 04/29/08 Our 15th Year
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Frequently Asked Questions: FAQ
- How can I contact The Devil's Advocate?
- How does The Devil's Advocate charge for its services?
- What is The Devil's Advocate & what does it do?
- Is The Devil's Advocate anti-lawyer in a legal fee dispute?
- If your name is "The Devil's Advocate," does that mean you work for the devil?
- Caveat emptor: All "legal bill audits" and "auditors" are not equal.
How do I contact The Devil's Advocate?
The Devil's Advocate may be contacted as follows:
| jtoothman@devilsadvocate.com | |
PO Box 8, Great Falls, VA 22066 Contact us for the relevant street address for the individual or department you're trying to reach, e.g., for courier deliveries. |
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| Phone | 703-684-6996 |
| Fax | 703-759-2388 |
How does The Devil's Advocate charge for its services?
We quote our fees based on a number of factors, depending on the situation. We seek reasonable compensation in proportion to our effort and the value of our services.
The Devil's Advocate's offers a variety of fee alternatives. Although hourly fees may be the norm for many lawyers, some of our engagements lend themselves to flat rates, retainers, or hybrids, depending on the circumstances. Devil's Advocate does not charge contingent fees for consulting services.
The Devil's Advocate passes through out of pocket or unusual expenses at cost, but does not bill clients for many routine expenses charged by law firms.
We discuss our fees up front. Details regarding our representation, including our fees, are normally reduced to a written agreement with each client.
The Devil's Advocate does not charge for initial consultations. Do not forward us any confidential information until we have reached a written retention agreement and our initial fee has been paid.
What is The Devil's Advocate and what does it do?
The Devil's Advocate is a consulting firm, providing unique advice to manage legal services. Devil's Advocate is not a law firm.
The Devil's Advocate is the trademark and tradename used by Devil's Advocate, LLC, a Virginia limited liability company.
While The Devil's Advocate cannot guarantee particular outcomes, we do strive to deliver cost-effective services.
Our name, The Devil's Advocate, is a federally registered trademark.
Is The Devil's Advocate "anti-lawyer"?
Some of our best friends, clients, and even some employees are lawyers. In examining legal fees, The Devil's Advocate always works to determine what a reasonable fee would be, regardless of who hires us. Unlike other bill auditors, we are independent and do not always work for the same "side" in a fee dispute. We are sometimes hired to challenge a fee and sometimes to support the reasonable portion of a fee.
Some of our competitors are owned or controlled by insurance companies, for example, so you know where they have to come out to protect their jobs. (It is probably for this reason that many of these companies' affiliations are hidden from the general public and most law firms.)
Before we will even take an engagement, we need to know enough about the situation to satisfy ourselves that our services are likely to be cost-effective. We turn down many more potential engagements than we take.
Even when we "support" a legal fee, we rarely find that 100% of the requested fee is reasonable by all standards. Just as few things are perfect, so it is with legal bills. But how much of a bill is unreasonable or improper for other reasons depends upon a thorough analysis, using the information at our disposal.
We have been retained both by clients and by law firms, as well as by insurance companies, government agencies, and others. We have even been retained by law firms whose fees we have examined in the past.
We strive to avoid having a bias or pre-judging any fee. Don't hire us unless you can handle the unvarnished truth.
If your name is "The Devil's Advocate," does that mean you work for the devil?
The short answer is no. We work for corporations, individuals, associations, governments and agencies, and unions, but no devils.
Most people recognize the phrase "devil's advocate" as referring to someone who asks tough questions, usually from different or unpopular perspectives, taking nothing for granted, and treating nothing as sacred. The term actually comes from the Roman Catholic Church, which appoints an official "devil's advocate" to challenge defects in the evidence supporting canonization of a candidate for sainthood. Even potential saints have to be audited.
We chose this name as an apt description of our role -- lawyers are not saints, though many people, including unhappy clients, may treat their bills as sacred. We look for the hard evidence that supports, or negates, the reasonableness of a fee. We ask hard questions. In doing so, we do not expect to win any popularity contest, even though our reports and testimony regularly win the dispute. We take a certain pride in noting that many who don't like our conclusions choose to attack us personally -- ad hominem -- to distract attention from their inability to refute us on the merits.
Note for the Reality-Challenged, Part I: Reflecting the inadequacy of some aspects of our educational system, we occasionally receive communications from people who assume that The Devil's Advocate means we work for the devil -- the aggressively ignorant even attempt to capitalize on the ignorance of others by fostering that misconception. As ignorance generally subsumes the absence of rudimentary logical skill, we have had little luck pointing out that, if there were a devil and we were actually employed by him, we would hardly have to resort to such crude tools as hard work, written reports, and testimony to accomplish our objectives when a simple lightening bolt or middling earthquake would do. For those with neither intellect nor sense of humor, we can confirm without fear of contradiction that we do not now nor have we ever been employed, directly, indirectly, or supernaturally, by any citizen of the netherworld.
Note for the Reality-Challenged, Part II: We are in no way associated with the movie known as "The Devil's Advocate," starring Al Pacino and Keanu Reaves. Those visitors to our web-site who are looking for information about the movie, seeking autographs, or who have a movie script or concept to peddle, will not find comfort here. We not only pre-date the movie, but we also own the federally-registered trademark for the name.
Caveat Emptor: All "legal bill audits" and "auditors" are not equal.
Beware of any firm claiming to perform "legal bill audits" or to have a computer program that can review legal bills: If it's too easy to be true, steer clear. No software program can locate the primary problems in most legal bills, because the biggest problem usually isn't what's in the bill, but what has been left out. Another warning sign is that the firm claims proprietary methods or systems -- for an example of a catastrophe caused by someone calling himself a legal bill auditor, follow this link. It is especially suspicious when an "auditor" claims an ability to review bills without examining work product or background information. Accountants and other non-lawyers cannot review the guts of a legal bill. Inexperienced lawyers cannot provide useful insight into a bill.
Since 1993, we have reviewed well over $1 billion in legal fees, we have testified many times, we have written the definitive articles and books, and we handle the largest, most complex fee disputes. We have also been hired by some of the same firms that we have challenged in other reviews -- our methods and opinions are persuasive. Devil's Advocate has extensive experience and understands the legal profession and litigation. You'll find that our services are superior in both cost and quality.
Updated: 28 Dec 2007