Determining Who Should Serve As the Billing Partner

Typically, a partner who "gets the call" on a new matter for an existing client should, as a partner courtesy, confer with the person who has primarily served as billing partner before opening the matter. If the person who has historically served as billing partner is continuing to fulfill the billing partner responsibilities (see below), he or she should usually be the billing partner for the new matter, absent any other circumstances which might dictate otherwise. "Getting the call," by itself, does not mean that the person should be the billing partner on the new matter. It may be that the historical billing partner has done an outstanding job of cross-selling, is continuing to fulfill billing partner responsibilities (including those for the new matters), and should continue to be the billing partner for the new matter. Similar considerations apply for new clients.

On the other hand, because a person was the billing partner on the first matter ever opened does not necessarily mean that he or she should be the billing partner on all subsequent matters. Such would be the case if the billing partner has not been performing the functions outlined herein and has had no role in developing the new matter. By way of illustration, Partner A gets a call from a mid-level manager to perform a small project for a client. Partner A performs the work, closes the file and has no further contact with client or with client decision makers. Later, after independent marketing efforts by Partner B to other decision makers in the organization, client retains the firm to perform a major project. Partner A has had no role, or even knowledge, that the marketing effort has taken place. In fact, the client does not even know that Partner A had done a project previously. Partner A should not reasonably expect to be the billing partner on the new matter.