What is the impact of excessive spending by lawyers on the assessment process?

Mr. Justice Killeen in Pagnotta v. Brown, [2002] O.J. No. 3033 (S.C.J.) issued the following warning to lawyers: From my perspective, if lawyers wish to expend such grossly inordinate amounts of billable hours on relatively routine cases, they may feel free to do so subject to their client’s approval, but they cannot expect judges to encourage such inefficient expenditures of time when their costs are to be fixed following trial. Judges and assessment officers have a duty to fix or assess costs at reasonable amounts and in this process they have a duty to make sure that the hours spent can be reasonably justified. The losing party is not to be treated as a money tree to be plucked willy nilly by the winner of the contest.