For those who rushed out this past weekend to take advantage of the “Cash for Clunkers” program (like my son), now it is time to rush to offer fixed fees. According to a front page story in today’s Wall Street Journal the “’Billable Hour’ (is) Under Attack,” and more and more companies are demanding fixed fee arrangements from their outside law firms. BigLaw is beginning to get the message.
Additionally, my colleague Jim Hassett has written extensively about alternative fees on his blog, Legal Business Development. He is currently conducting a survey of the AmLaw 100 firms’ practices in this area, and the survey should be completed in the next few weeks. The results will undoubtedly shed light on the views regarding alternative fees among these firms.
Since smaller firms are more flexible in terms of changing their billing structure than are the more bureaucratic, large firms, there is still time for small to medium-sized firms to take advantage. So, don’t wait.
Time is of the essence as they say. Call your key clients now to let them know you are willing to discuss flat fees before you get left behind. It won’t be long before the big guys get that huge tanker turned around.
If you are interested in reading some of my posts on alternative fees over the past 4 years…
…take a look at my post of earlier this year (and the nine posts it links to):