[ak39]

I don't agree with this approach. It's interesting but I don't see how the nature of the work you're doing disqualifies you from charging for "research" even when you're NOT a hotshot.

I think a better approach would be to charge per day.

[BuckRogers]

I'd be pretty pissed off if I was charged a lot of money for "research" to have some lawyer file run of the mill divorce papers or immigration paperwork. It's like hiring a dev to build a CRUD app and he doesn't have basic competence either.

At a certain point, you need to a baseline competence or you shouldn't even be taking the job. If people balk at you for not being ready to even take on the basic job title, that shouldn't be a surprise.

I'm not saying if you come across a corner case that's special you shouldn't charge for it. It's like if you had an exceptional immigration case that required research, not just filing form 1072B.

It's something to keep in mind because you can lose your reputation or clients being silly with the "research 40 hours" act. Sometimes losing a little money today is a win longterm. A lawyer billing research for basic stuff or nonsense that no one else would (learning on the job, basically), would and should lose his clientele.