Corporate legal departments have seen outside counsel rates continue to increase, resulting in tighter budgets that prohibit the enforcement of overbilling.

A formal legal bill review remains one of the most under-resourced functions of a legal department and can significantly reduce costs on outside legal spend.

According to a 2025 national survey of legal executives, 87% of in-house teams spend fewer than four hours per month reviewing outside counsel invoices, despite widespread concern about overbilling. Time constraints and lack of billing-specific expertise were cited as the primary barriers.

This resource examines:

• Why fragmented internal review models dilute accountability

• The real-time investment required for guideline-compliant invoice analysis

• How inconsistent enforcement of Outside Counsel Guidelines undermines leverage

• The hidden operational cost of assigning high-value attorneys to administrative review

• The governance implications when legal spend is perceived as unmonitored

A detailed time study found that reviewing $1 million in outside counsel invoices requires approximately 40 hours of structured, line-item analysis when performed thoroughly. Most legal departments do not have that capacity.

The issue is not whether legal departments care about invoice compliance. It is whether they are structurally equipped to enforce it consistently.

For legal leaders focused on financial integrity, vendor accountability, and strategic allocation of internal resources, the function of reviewing bills warrants modernization.

Download the full report to understand the operational and financial benefits of exploring scalable alternatives to the legal bill review process.