Navigating the Turbulent Waters in an Evolving Legal Marketplace
When flat or fixed fees started to be bantered about in the last few years, partners in several of my firms said: “Won’t work for litigation, since it is too unpredictable.” Well, welcome to the new world.
A recent article by Catherine Ho that appeared on The Washington Post’s “Capital Business” raised the question about…
It’s been awhile since I wrote about flat fees as an alternative fee arrangement. I’ve covered the topic many times on this blog. I don’t see it as a current hot topic in the legal marketing press, but IMHO it is one that clients (at least non-BigLaw clients) are most interested in.
Think about…
If you still don’t like the idea of offering clients alternative fees or value pricing options, then how about just letting the client decide how much they want to pay for legal services? WHAT!!!, you say. A pretty far fetched (or ludicrous) idea, right?
Not so fast. CMS Cameron McKenna, a UK firm with…
While one recent survey says that “reducing spending (with outside law firms) is a top priority for corporate legal departments”, another says that regional firms may be in position to gain more work over BigLaw. Both surveys were reported by Law360, the newswire for business lawyers.
Last week Robert Half Legal’s 10th Future Law…
During Jackson Lewis’ annual corporate counsel conference, as reported in The National Law Journal and on Law.com’s Small Firm Business, alternative fees are “putting down deep roots.”
This got my attention, because although there has been much written about the subject including on this blog, it hasn’t seemed that alternative fees were catching…
According to a feature article in this month’s InsideCounsel one consultant who helps clients structure alternative fee arrangements "estimates that only about 2% of total legal billings currently are being done on alternative basis – but he contends it’s an increasing trend." That certainly isn’t a surprise.
He goes on to say "I’d expect that…
Don’t get left behind. My colleague Jim Hassett has talked extensively about alternative fees over on his Legal Business Development blog for months. Jim conducted interviews this year between June and September with many high level people at 37 of the AmLaw 100 law firms. He will publish his survey report next month. You can…
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…Continue Reading Offer Fixed Fees NOW!
It was reported in Law.com’s In-House Counsel back in 2007 that small firms were using flat fees to gain an edge in taking corporate clients from larger firms.
That is still the case. As reported in a post on the Desert Law Blog citing the now famous New York Times article quoting Evan Chesler of Cravath…
Evan Chesler, presiding partner at Cravath, Swaine & Moore shocked a lot of people within the legal community with his recent opinion piece on Forbes.com advocating the death of the billable hour.
Basically, he states that the billable hour “makes no sense.” Making more money by dragging out a matter (or in his analogy, making more money by getting “bogged down a land war in Asia”) is “frankly nuts.” Pretty strong words from a firm that doesn’t really have to worry about clients questioning their bills, I wouldn’t expect.
Even though tons of folks (too many people to mention here) in blogosphere, including yours truly, have long advocated doing away with the billable hour, Chesler’s comments, one could argue, clearly takes the debate to a higher level. Not many would expect such a position from a BigLaw firm of Cravath’s stature. Now maybe the concept of alternative fees, although not new, will take on a bit more momentum.
Although there have been many different suggestions for alternative fee arrangements (see Continue Reading below for a few of my posts on the topic), I found a couple of ideas from a named partner in a 10-lawyer Philadelphia area firm worth considering. Gary Lentz of Bochetto & Lentz wrote an article published in The Legal Intelligencer and on Small Firm Business suggesting a couple of approaches that could attract new clients and enhance fee opportunities in this down economy.
The following two variations on the same theme are worth consideration by firms of all sizes:
Take a look. They may just work for your firm, particularly with clients who are encountering their own uncertainties in the current economy.Continue Reading Now Is The Time To Consider Alternative Fees
