Billing by the hour remains central to private law practice despite its adverse impact on client service and lawyers’ quality of life. More than two decades ago, a 2002 ABA Commission on Billable Hours study discussed the negative effects of hourly billing and urged alternative billing arrangements. Most lawyers in practice today consider hourly billing…
The traditional law firm pyramid model is under pressure. Historically, to support partner salaries at the top, firms continually added increasing number of associates at the bottom. Every year, big law firms hired troops of new associates and assigned them to high-volume but relatively low skilled projects to gain experience. Although contract lawyers, or, in…
In the current economic environment, especially, General Counsel resist paying high fees for routine, repetitive functions. They realize that some tasks don’t require lawyers, or at least high priced lawyers in traditional law firms, to complete them. Therefore, in order to hang onto as much business as possible, smart law firms minimize the cost of…
