Because a law practice is essentially a fee-for-service business, most attorneys only get paid by generating billable time. By generating more billable time, the attorney will be paid more. This practice of generating billable time results in the attorney having the most basic conflict with a client. The cost of legal work will necessarily be high because the attorney must produce the best possible work product regardless of the billable hours it takes.Thus, while the client is trying to get the best practical legal result for the least possible cost, the attorney by his or her very nature will produce the best possible work product with the largest number of billable hours, and consequently, the highest cost. Not only does the attorney want to produce the best possible product, but such a product will result in the lawyer spending considerable time on the matter at the highest possible cost.

With relatively few exceptions, most attorneys tend to be risk averse and have relatively little business savvy or entrepreneurial character. Consequently, there is a natural tendency to over-lawyer most matters and to produce the best possible work product, not the best possible work product for the situation at hand. This structural inefficiency, coupled with the general lack of business experience of most attorneys, results in a contorted process whereby the attorney has an incentive to spin his or her wheels to the detriment of the client who is paying for the time of the attorney. Added to this inefficiency is the tendency of most large firms to specialize and over-lawyer every matter which comes into the firm. The inefficient nature of law practice, the inherent conflict created between the attorney and the client regarding cost, coupled with the extremely cautious nature of most attorneys creates a billing nightmare for most clients.