Unexpected Legal Tabs Irk Law Firm GCs

Unexpected bills can put a law firm on the hot seat or bounce it from a corporate legal roster, according to general counsel dishing on pet peeves.

Speaking on a panel last week in Boston, Laura Peabody of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Inc. told of a $35,000 bill for a memo she "had never seen, asked for or read," the National Law Journal reports. Although the memo concerned a subject she wanted addressed, it went into more depth than needed.

Peabody's response was an “uncomfortable conversation” about reducing the charge, the story reports.

Another general counsel, Christine Hughes of Emerson College, said she received an $80,000 estimate for legal work and was astounded when she later got a bill for $120,000, according to the story. The firm had never notified Hughes of the rising legal costs. "I wouldn't use that firm again," she said.