Adam Smith, Esq. has an excellent piece this morning , based on a Legal OnRamp thread, questioning whether corporate clients are actually demanding the changes so many of us are talking about, from alternative fees/value-based billing to legal project... Read More
The failure of the billable hour to die is back in the news. In a recent AmLaw Daily post entitled The Billable Hour Endures , former Kirkland & Ellis partner Steven Harper argued that, "Regularly over the past 20 years, optimists have declared... Read More
Step 4: Look for ways to lower costs In the current competitive environment, if your budget perfectly reflects past history, it may not be low enough to win the work. For many years, there was little pressure on lawyers to lower costs or to work more... Read More
Hourly fees are the predominant billing method used by law firms. Beginning in the late 1980s and early 1990s, some clients began to object to this method and to any form of lawyer billing rate increase. Fueled by a recession and growing consumer sophistication... Read More
The future of the legal profession is full of uncertainty. Will the old habits return as they did after previous recessions, or will these changes be permanent? No one knows for sure, but there are some possibilities and trends to take notice of. Cost... Read More
Yes. There has been discussion over the past months as to whether the better term for non-hourly billing is "alternative fee arrangements" or "value-based billing." The answer is yes, and yes. The first "yes" is an... Read More
Rising client demand for alternative fee arrangements (AFAs) has forced an increasing number of law firms to move away from the hourly billing model. In many respects, firms are implementing AFAs in rather entrepreneurial fashion without benefit of proper... Read More
According to the "Firms in Transition Survey 2011" reported on Law360 on Tuesday "unproductive and underproductive partners" (read non-rainmakers) will be cut by 20% of the law firm responding to the Altman Weil (no follow) survey... Read More
Internal controls are important to prevent error and ensure integrity of accounting records as well as to reduce the risk of misappropriation of assets (fraud). A good system of internal controls protects both the firm and its employees. Designing such... Read More