You are driving through the rear-view mirror when your law department manages outside counsel principally though review of their bills. Steering is chronically late, and musty, dusty invoices further fog the mirror (See my post of Oct. 31, 2005 on real-time bill information through JennerNet; and May 19, 2006 on why law departments don’t cotton to it.).
Back to my heading metaphor. The iceberg lies in wait if you let your law firms bill slowly. You could be in for a titanic shock, especially when it comes time to accrue for unpaid legal expenses (See my post of Aug. 24, 2005 on the agony of accrual.). A cold-blooded department might refuse to pay for any time recorded glacially late, such as more than 60 days before the invoice date.