Andrew Kassner, managing partner of the 680-lawyer Drinker Biddle & Reath L.L.P. of Center City, said the new focus on flat fees, incentive payments and other alternative forms of compensation means law firms need to be very careful about how they deploy their lawyers.
High-level partners, for example, shouldn’t be doing legal research that can be left to a more junior, and less-expensive lawyer, while the partner should handle client contacts and the broader legal strategy. (courtesy of philly.com)
Huh? Was there ever a time when "high-level partners" should have been doing legal research?
We keep this poster in our office to remind us of one the important differences between Valorem and BigLaw. What BigLaw, or at least some of it, does not seem to get is that the proper and effective deployment of lawyers when using fixed fees is so fundamentally different than under the billable hour model that the two cannot peacefully co-exist. That "endless supply of expendable labor" that made you so profitable in the billable hour model? They hurt you on the fixed fee model. Or do you really think that a bunch of inexperienced rookies are going to get you to the promised land of fast, efficient and effective results?
Times have changed.