Legal Marketing & PR

Now Is The Time To Consider Alternative Fees

By Tom Kane

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:

• Multi-phased Fee Agreements
  • Phase I - an initial flat fee to evaluate the case, develop strategy, negotiate and “prompt resolution” (with a potential for a bonus) and drafting complaint, if necessary;
  • Phase II – a mix hourly, fixed fee and/or contingency, if necessary to file and pursue the matter in court.
• Blended Contingency Fee Agreements - an initial flat fee to cover the evaluation of the case and drafting the complaint, followed with a contingency fee based on outcome of the matter.

Take a look. They may just work for your firm, particularly with clients who are encountering their own uncertainties in the current economy.

Has Your Firm Tamed That Damn Billable Hour Yet?

Now is the Time for Creative Billing to Gain More Clients

Is the Billable Hour Now Dead?

More Bad News for the Billable Hour

Should You Consider Value-Based Fee Arrangements?

Is Billable Hour Here to Stay?

Have You Considered Alternatives To Hourly Billing Yet?

Alternative Billing for Small Firms

Alternative Fees vs. Billable Hour

Full post as published by Legal Marketing Blog on January 26, 2009 (boomark / email).