No, not billable hour kind of time. Rather, the importance of time to think.
Changing how you do business, or changing with whom you do business are not easy decisions. The decisions have to be justified, sometimes to people who have become your friends, to your CFO or even the CEO. In other words, the decisions have to be thoughtful and deliberate. Those characteristics more often than not demand time. But what is one thing most striking in its scarcity in the lives of most in-house counsel? Time.
So what does this mean? For one thing, it means that movement to alternative fees and replacement of lawyers will be a slow process. Second, it means that a succinct, compelling case for change needs to be made when marketing your interest in alternative fees. And finally, it means that inside counsel will have to decide the real priority associated with obtaining the advantages of alternative fees.