While Lauri Stock's billing practices are not illegal, as they are laid out in the lengthy contract you are forced to sign, in my opinion are incredibly unethical.
Upon my retention of Lauri J Stock, I quickly began to notice the following pattern of billing on each statement:
Multiple charges for the associates and paralegals time on unnecessary and unrelated "tasks" and "research".
Multiple charges for the paralegals, assistants, and attorneys for discussions and/or emails between coworkers regarding said unnecessary research or tasks. This can easily equates to thousands of dollars in a very short period of time, with little bearing on the case.
Multiple 10+ minute increment charges for each email sent or received, despite its relevance to the case. I was charged for the assistant requesting documents, appointment reminders, and 'receipt confirmations'. A single email thread between the assistant and myself, detailing her reminder for a document submission and my initial response of "thanks, I'll send it shortly", followed later with the attached document, was billed as 30 minutes. This is one example of many such outrageous claims.
Charges for "reviewing the client trust account for maintaining a minimum balance". Upon receiving this charge, you will be asked to supply additional funds for the retainer account.
When I inquired about the firm's billing practices, I was billed at their full rate for the review (aka reading my email) of my complaints, for the review of their own bills, and for their response to my inquiry.
Their avoidance and unwillingness to resolve the issues proves to me they are aware of their unethical practices. read more