Three offices, three interpretations of the same fee arrangement

Firms that grow by merger or by opening branches usually inherit billing practices rather than designing them. Each office's approach was reasonable where it developed and they are not reconcilable across a single client base.

The client comparison

Corporate clients instructing more than one office will compare. Differences in narrative detail or disbursement treatment read as inconsistency at best and as opportunism at worst, and the firm is defending a practice rather than a bill.

Why it persists

Because changing it feels like criticising the office that does it differently, and because no partner wants to spend capital on an internal standard when there is client work to do.

The management cost

Realisation rates cannot be compared between offices when the inputs differ, so the firm cannot tell which office is genuinely more profitable. Every management decision built on that comparison is built on sand.