Is McGuire Woods walking the walk?
I woke up this morning to this headline in the Business Section of the Chicago Tribune: "Hourly Legal Fees Under Attack." I thought to myself-finally! But the article is simply a puff piece on how McGuire Woods is starting an advertising campaign touting its willingness to use fee arrangements other than straight hourly rates. The advertising is limited to Crain's Chicago Business and the midwest edition of Fortune Magazine, and the strategy is designed to grow the firm's Chicago office. According to the article, the firm has decided that one way to compete with the Kirklands, Sidleys, and Mayer Browns is "to be more responsive to our clients." The article concludes with a quote from Robert Pristave of the Chicago office: "We want to be a cutting-edge law firm."
Forgive me if I stifle a guffaw. Does anyone believe there is a "cutting edge" switch at law firms? "Yesterday, we were staid and conservative. [Flip Switch!] Wow, today we are cutting edge!" It just doesn't work like that, and it certainly doesn't work that way in branch offices. In my mind, this kind of marketing plays into client's cynicism about lawyers use of alternative fees. In the minds of many clients, lawyers take a "I"m with you win or draw" approach to alternative fees, taking upside risk for good results but never taking downside risk. That approach will never work.
I honestly hope McGuire Woods is successful, since any progress in efforts to bill our clients according to the value (to them) of our work is a step forward. But forgive me if I don't bet the ranch just yet.