SiriusPoint Specialty Insurance (8024) Emailed - Monthly Billing–
- Staffing – designate one attorney to have primary responsibility
- Written Acknowledgement of Assignment must be emailed within 48 hours of assignment
- Approved Initial Defense Budget required
- Rate increase requests must be submitted in writing at least 90 days prior to the proposed effective date
- Billing on closed matters should be submitted within 30 days after the end of the billing quarter in which the matter closed unless requested earlier by Distinguished claim professional.
- Bills submitted more than 180 days late will not be accepted
- Approval for legal research over three (3) hours per topic is required and must be documented on the invoice in the text of the applicable billing entry.
- Computerized Online Research considered overhead
- Claim profession should be consulted in advance of any additional attendee at hearing, court appearance, meetings, witness interviews, inspections and other similar events
- Billing in excess of nine (9) hours per day across all matters will not be allowed except during trial or mediation, wile traveling, or if prior approval has been granted
- Reviewing documentation billing entries should describe: 1) type of document, 2) volume of document reviewed and 3) specific purpose for the review
- Outside vendor should be paid directly by Counsel for charge under $500; vendor bill over $500 must be pre-approved and forwarded to Distinguish for payment
- Tavel time will be billed at half of the attorney’s hourly rate without distinguishing local or long distance travel. Billing entries should reflect the full travel hours incurred.
- Only coach ticket for air travel
- Meals while traveling at a combined daily rate of $75 per day; no alcohol
- Prior approval needed for incurring any expenses for experts, consultants, investigators, temporary or contract attorneys or outside paralegal or other professional services.
- Considered overhead: intra-office conferences; file review done when the file is transferred to a new attorney; Lexis, Westlaw or other computer assisted legal research; postage and overnight mail – except for certified mail fees incurred for servicing documents, unless prior approval has been obtained; internal messengers and couriers, unless prior approval has been obtained; routine memo to the file; conflict checks; charges for cloud or other electronic document storage
