I got an email today that is proof that mass emailers don’t care a bit about who receives the emails. The mass email, on behalf of Smart WebParts, offered this enticement: Smart Time moves timekeeping into a new era, finally offering timekeepers a way to keep up with today’s hypermobile, multitasking work environments. In this new… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Hourly Rates and Alternatives
Subscribe to Hourly Rates and Alternatives RSS FeedNot all fixed fees provide the same value to clients
Posted in Hourly Rates and AlternativesI saw a post on a LinkedIn discussion on alternative fees that made me wonder …. For transactions, we almost always give the client a choice of a fixed fee or an hourly rate. If they don’t immediately see the difference (and most do), we explain to them that our fixed fee is based on… Continue Reading
BigLaw just can’t shake it’s reliance on hours!
Posted in Hourly Rates and Alternatives, Leadership and ManagementI got a kick out of a post at Above The Law, Associate Bonus Watch: Dechert’s Bonus Is Contingent On Something That Sure Sounds Like Billable Hours. The unstated but unmistakeable conclusion from the memo is that even firms that say hours aren’t important place disproportionate importance on billable hours. ATL quotes one tipster saying:… Continue Reading
Auctions, RFPs and wasting time and opportunities
Posted in Commentary, Hourly Rates and AlternativesSix years ago, I ran this post: “Dan Hull has a good post on his What About Clients blog about price competition. His approach is not to compete on price but instead to compete on service, not price. His insight, which I cannot improve on in any way, is that “if clients come to you… Continue Reading
It’s a great time of the year for law firms!
Posted in Client Service, Commentary, Hourly Rates and AlternativesI’ve been away from my blog the past little while. I had a case that was to start trial on October 24th. We finally picked a jury on December 5th and a verdict on December 15. The complete win for our client made this marathon worth it, but the trial occupied my complete attention for… Continue Reading
WSJ Law Blog asks “What’s a First Year Lawyer Worth?
Posted in Commentary, Hourly Rates and AlternativesThe October 17 issue of the Wall Street Journal contains a terrific article by Ashby Jones, What’s A First-Year Lawyer Worth? The answer, it seems, is not much, at least to some general counsel. Several GCs are quoted talking about how they deal with the "first-year dilemma." Here’s the definition: But lawyers said there is still… Continue Reading
Lawyers’ Math
Posted in Hourly Rates and AlternativesCourtesy of Jim Hanlon of Novus Law (and ultimately Rose Walker):
Average associate hourly rate continues to increase
Posted in Commentary, Hourly Rates and AlternativesI’ve always said that lawyers are really smart and that if given the proper incentive structure, they would learn how to deliver great value and still make money. But what if there is no incentive to change? Well, according the Wall Street Journal (citing to Peer Monitor), "the average hourly rate for a non-partner associate… Continue Reading
Is estimating hourly fees an appropriate way of setting a fixed fee?
Posted in Commentary, Hourly Rates and AlternativesRees Morrison, who blogs at Law Department Management, just wrote a really interesting post, Sorry, it’s perfectly fine if a firm sets a fee based on estimated hours of work. The genesis of the post is a comment by an Associate General Counsel at Altria that “A firm is disguising hourly billing as value billing… Continue Reading
An Interesting “Redefinition” of AFAs
Posted in Hourly Rates and AlternativesCheck out this great post from Rees Morrison, who makes the case that, for clients, the best way to use AFAs to get value is to define it as Alternative Firm Arrangements. I couldn’t agree more. The more clients that vote with their feet and exercise their inherent power as the buyer of services, the… Continue Reading
Seeing your pain in real time.
Posted in Hourly Rates and AlternativesWe’ve all been there. You’re on a call with your client and you ask about his favorite team, or what golf courses she’s been playing lately, or how his family is doing. There ensues the type of social banter that is common between people and then you’re on to the substance of the call. You… Continue Reading
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Posted in Hourly Rates and AlternativesI just received an email that made me smile. It was from a time entry company, and promised to find all those "lost hours". How often do you spend 10 hours in the office and end up scratching your head because you only billed for 5 of them? Its easy — and not uncommon —… Continue Reading
Computers replacing lawyers? It’s already happening.
Posted in Hourly Rates and AlternativesThe New York Times reported over the weekend on Armies of Expensive Lawyers, Replaced by Cheaper Software. Terrific article. It focuses on the use of software for e-discovery rather than manpower. It is only a matter of time until this is the norm. The article lead to several others, which are worth reading too. Chris… Continue Reading
Discounted Hourly Rates: Definitely Not An Alternative Fee
Posted in Commentary, Hourly Rates and Alternatives"Words are like weapons, they wound sometimes." Cher I get this pain in my gut when lawyers suggest that discounted hourly rates are alternative fees. Not so, grasshopper. Watch.
WSJ Blog Picks Up On Continuing Rate Increases
Posted in Commentary, Hourly Rates and AlternativesI recently noted that law firms were continuing to increase rates even though their clients were experiencing difficult times. The Wall Street Journal Law Blog picked up on the story. I love Nathan Koppel’s concluding line: "color us surprised." In reality, it is really not surprising. It reflects a paralysis of thinking and imagination. By … Continue Reading
The Billable Hour, The Supreme Court and a Dog’s Tail
Posted in Commentary, Hourly Rates and AlternativesWe now know who to blame for the billable hour. Or at least who to blame for its perpetuation. According to former Kirkland partner Steve Harper in The Belly of the Beast: Yet it survives because it has powerful defenders, including the Supreme Court’s conservative five-man majority. Yes, the obstacles facing those seeking better… Continue Reading
BigLaw Gaming Their Clients?
Posted in Commentary, Hourly Rates and AlternativesThis story from a friend who recently started as General Counsel at a Bank. Previously, this person had been GC at a different bank that was acquired and then took some time off after the acquisition. The GC relayed a story about a recent conversation with one of the Bank’s outside lawyers. In that conversation,… Continue Reading
“Law Firms Say Alternative Billing Won’t Dent Profits.” More Evidence Firms Just Don’t Get It
Posted in Commentary, Hourly Rates and AlternativesLaw360 today reports in an article Law Firms Say Alternative Billing Won’t Dent Profits (sub req.). Hmmm. So let’s see. We know the virtually no firm has restructured its business model. We know that few firms have made a real commitment to project management. We know that few firms have made even a pretend commitment… Continue Reading
Blended Rates Are “On Their Way Out.” Shocking.
Posted in Commentary, Hourly Rates and AlternativesIn a headline I saw this morning, Law360 reports that blended rates "may be on their way out." Finally. One of two things is true about blended rates. Either people do not understand how blended rates help prove the truth of P.T. Barnum’s most famous quote that "there is a sucker born every minute," or… Continue Reading
BigLaw: Advocates of the wolf in sheep’s clothing approach to Value Fees
Posted in Commentary, Hourly Rates and AlternativesI was talking about Value Fees to two senior partners from two of the largest and best law firms in the country. Their take was that clients were not interested. This conclusion was based on the fact that they had offered clients “alternative fee proposals” and the clients had not accepted them. I asked their take on… Continue Reading
Do AFAs create the same bad incentives as hourly billing?
Posted in Commentary, Hourly Rates and AlternativesMy recent post Discounts: It’s like putting off necessary surgery drew this thoughtful comment, which I believe merits a response. First, the comment: Although you suggest that hourly billing law firms which discount will merely increase the number of billed hours to prop up their bottom lines, there is no evidence to suggest AFA firms… Continue Reading
Discounts: It’s like putting off necessary surgery
Posted in Commentary, Hourly Rates and AlternativesI started looking at some tweets this morning and saw an interesting one by "@jayshep" –Twitter-speak for Jay Shepherd, where he cites to an article (sub. req.) on discounting hourly rates. The article quotes Jay as saying "It’s incredibly easy to get discounts." I am intrigued, and continue reading: “I’ve talked to many in-house… Continue Reading
Data Point: Experience and Size save money
Posted in Hourly Rates and AlternativesI don’t know why I didn’t see this article before, but I just read Inside Counsel’s September 2009 article on game-changing law departments. CN, a multinational transportation company, shifted work from large firms to smaller firms. How has that worked out? Well, it seems. The results have been surprising. "I was expecting to pay X per… Continue Reading
Alternative Fees: “This, too, shall pass.” Really?
Posted in Commentary, Hourly Rates and AlternativesLet’s start with a huge caveat. The guy doing the talking in this interview, Stephen French, is the Managing Director of Legalbill. According to the firm’s website: Legalbill is committed to providing corporations worldwide with unsurpassed solutions for legal cost analysis and management. So, in real world terms, Legalbill manages hourly billing data, slices and… Continue Reading