Ten days ago, I posted a pithy note repeating a speaker’s declaration that the billable hour was dead. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect that post to generate the level of comments it did, especially since I have railed against the billable hour on so many other occasions. See some of my posts here. But if this topic interests you, please read the comments to the post and check out this post by Ron Baker on the Verasage blog.
The only point I want to make in response to Ron’s lengthy comment is the paragraph he begins "Pat and Moe." Ron, I don’t agree with a single thing Moe wrote. But as we have discussed, I think any seller, if it announced it would only give work to those who would agree to do it on a flat fee basis would find a number of takers. The converse is not true. When offering a client an AFA, most clients have one of three reactions: (1) they try to figure out how much the matter would cost on an hourly basis and use that as a basis for comparison; (2) they simply exclude you from the candidates for the work because you’ve created an apples and oranges comparison for them; or (3) they ask for your hourly rates. The point is that both sides of the equation–seller and buyer–need to be willing to engage in the process. Who leads is less important that the commitment to participate.