Yesterday, my GM asked me to review a new contract with our environmental consultants. My company is in litigation, and our attorneys have asked the environmental consultants for additional services.
After reviewing the contract, I e-mailed the GM on why the fee for litigation work is 50% more than their regular fee. The main environmental consultant was already the top-billing person from that company.
The GM then directly forwarded my e-mail to the VP at environmental consulting company...
This morning, I received an e-mail from the VP: they are knocking off the increase and billing us the regular rate. Yeah!
This incident follows a similar event two month ago. I urged the GM in June to challenge a summer associate's billing b/c summer associates tends to bill excessively due to the steep learning curve. After continually checking in with the GM, the GM finally pushed the partner for an answer. We were able to slash that associate's billing by half. Yet another victory for the company.
More than ever, I feel absorbed by work. It's not a bad thing, since I am still getting to do all the fun things in my life... Life feels lucky.
