Cut your outside legal fees by watching for 6 red flags.

• Position: Nuts & Bolts

If your job involves HR law, you no doubt deal with employment lawyers--and their legal bills.

Good legal advice is worth every penny, but you're wise to carefully review the invoices from your outside attorneys. They're just as capable of making billing errors as other vendors. But given the high hourly rates, those mistakes can be expensive.

Plus, the structure of most large law firms means your case will be handled by many attorneys and support staff. That increases the opportunity for mistakes. Watch for these common billing errors:

1 Overtime. Law firms may bill higher rates for evening and weekend work. If your lawyer crammed to meet a deadline, overtime is justified. But you shouldn't pay higher rates if the work could have been done during normal hours.

2 Factual discrepancies. Law firms track which attorney provides each service and how long it took. Keep a file of every contact and compare your notes to the bill.

3...