Volume 5 Winter 2011 Number 2 - Charleston Law Review

RICH MAN, POOR MAN, BEGGAR MAN, THIEF:A HISTORY AND CRITIQUE OF THEATTORNEY BILLABLE HOURCharles N. Geilich *I. THE BEGINNING OF TIME (-BASED BILLING) .......... 173II. TIME IS MONEY, IF BILLED PROPERLY ..................... 178III. WHAT HAPPENS TO TIME IN THE FUTURE? ............. 189I. THE BEGINNING OF TIME (-BASED BILLING)It may not have been a lawyer who first said “time is money,”but it should have been. In fact, while Benjamin Franklin iscredited with crafting that exact phrase, 1 a similar notion whichwould warm the heart of any “bill-by-the-hour” lawyer today wasuttered by a Greek orator, Antiphon, who wrote speeches forcriminal defendants, and who may thus be fairly thought of as apredecessor to the modern lawyer: “The most costly outlay istime.” 2He had no idea.However, it was not always so—particularly in the legalprofession. The ascendance of the billable hour is of fairly recentorigin in this country. While the occasional hourly fee may havebeen seen before, it was not until sometime in the mid-1960s that*Charles N. Geilich is an attorney in Dallas, Texas, specializing in themediation of family law cases. He received his J.D. from the Texas TechUniversity School of Law and his Bachelor of Journalism from The Universityof Texas. In addition to his law practice and other endeavors, Charles Geilich isalso a novelist. The opinions and errors in this Article belong to the author; thefacts are available on a computer near you. He may be contacted atcharles@dallasmediation.com.1. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, ADVICE TO A YOUNG TRADESMAN (1748), reprintedin THE POLITICAL THOUGHT OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 51, 51 (Ralph L. Ketchamed., Hackett Publ’g Co. 2003) (1965).2. DAN FALK, IN SEARCH OF TIME: THE SCIENCE OF A CURIOUS DIMENSION,64, n.* (2008).173