Control over time-billing practices should be in place before external controls and greater regulation will be imposed on the entire legal profession.

Queensland Law Society's ethics committee chair Brian Bartley has raised the issue of abusing time billing practices. Bartley stressed, “Instead of criticizing time billing, we need to deal with the abuses of time billing practiced by some within the profession.”

For years, the ethics group chairman continues to be involved in prosecuting solicitors for unprofessional conduct. He said, “I've been around long enough to have seen a lot of files and I have a pretty fair idea of what's happening.”

According to Bartley, one of the biggest revenue-generating part of some law firms is the paralegals. The staff who lack legal qualifications earn about $40,000 a year, but their actual value to a law firm could be up to $500,000.

Charge-out rates of up to $300 an hour for these staff made it possible for legal firms to profit because each staff member is only compensated with less than $20 an hour. Paralegal work is the same as secretarial tasks. These include booking appointments for clients who need to see doctors and specialists, collecting and collating medical reports, and bundling documents for review by a barrister.

Bartley said, “It is more likely to happen in personal injury firms because of the repetitive work - like booking doctors and getting the medical reports - that lends itself to using non-qualified people.”