Free Outside Counsel Guidelines
Template Pack
20 essential billing clauses at three strictness levels — basic, moderate, and aggressive. Ready-to-use language for your outside counsel guidelines.
What's in the Template Pack
Everything you need to draft or strengthen your outside counsel billing guidelines.
20 Clauses
Block billing prohibition, rate caps, staffing requirements, UTBMS coding, and 16 more essential clauses covering every aspect of outside counsel billing governance.
3 Strictness Levels
Each clause at basic (collaborative), moderate (balanced), and aggressive (strict enforcement) levels. Choose the tone that matches your relationship with outside counsel.
Enforcement Guidance
Common violations to watch for and practical enforcement tips for each clause. Know what to look for and how to handle non-compliance.
Sample Clause Preview
Here is a taste of what you will get in the full template pack.
Prohibiting Block Billing
Outside Counsel shall avoid block billing whenever practicable. Each time entry should describe a single task or closely related group of tasks. Entries combining more than two disc...
Block billing is prohibited. Each time entry shall describe a single task and the time spent on that task. Entries that combine multiple discrete tasks into a single time entry with...
All time entries must reflect a single, discrete task. Block billing is strictly prohibited and will result in automatic rejection of the affected line item. No time entry may combi...
Rate Cap & Rate Increase Provisions
Hourly rates for all timekeepers shall be agreed upon at the commencement of each engagement and documented in the engagement letter. Rate increases shall not exceed 3% annually and...
All hourly rates are subject to approval by the Company and shall be documented in a rate schedule attached to the engagement letter. Annual rate increases are limited to the lesser...
Rates are fixed for the duration of the engagement unless the Company agrees otherwise in writing. The Company reserves the right to benchmark rates annually against market data and...
...plus 18 more clauses in the full template pack.
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Related Resources
Guide to Outside Counsel Guidelines
How to write, implement, and enforce billing guidelines that actually work.
Clause Library
Browse all 20 guideline clauses with sample language at three strictness levels.
Legal Billing Glossary
36 essential terms every in-house legal team should know.
The Complete Guide to Legal Billing Audits
How to systematically review outside counsel invoices and recover overcharges.
The Honor System in Legal Billing
Why trust alone is not a billing strategy and what to do about it.
UTBMS Code Reference
The standardized coding system that brings transparency to legal billing.