Legal News

"GCs, Law Firms and Flat Fee Arrangements: A Matter of Trust"
In the news: "Tom Sager, GC for E. I. du Pont de Nemours, likes alternative fee arrangements, and he's made sure his outside counsel know it. With the economic downturn forcing cost cutting across America, Sager's not alone...

But Who Insures My Profitability
The AmLaw Daily contains a fascinating post, GCs, Law Firms And Flat Fee Arrangements: A Matter Of Trust.  One outside lawyer is quoted as saying that "the single biggest obstacle to flat fee arrangements is fear...

Has the Clock Struck 12 on the Billable Hour
People who follow the world of law firms know, among so much else, two things: 1) that billing-by-the-hour has long been the way law firms get paid and 2) companies have over the years had only limited success in getting firms to agree to do it any other way...

Pressure Mounts as More Corporate Clients Favor Flat Rates over Billing by the Hour
We have heard the battle cry before, and the wires are abuzz again about having law firms abandon the billable hour, according to Slate. Though few companies openly discuss alternative billing arrangements, there is ample evidence to show that alternative billing is overwhelmingly favored over the hourly rate model...

Alternate Billing Arrangements Putting Down Deep Roots, General Counsel Say
Pressures to rein in legal costs have pushed more and more in-house counsel?s offices to require law firms to bill by way of arrangements outside of the billable hour, and the number of those arrangements is only likely to go...

"The Message That Will Seal Law Firms' Doom: 'It's Nothing Personal'"
In the news: "Law firms used to be about relationships, retention, loyalty and trust. But that trust has been broken, as seen from the demise of big firms that appear to have traded their culture for currency...

Flat Fee Billing is NOT Like This Guy Kiteboarding!
I regularly hear other lawyers say that they are afraid to bill flat fee on most matters. Our lawyers bill most everything as a flat fee, some (but not all) litigation matter excepted...

Am Law 200 Firms Expected to Increase Revenues Through Alternative Fee Arrangements Over the Next Few Years
Zach Lowe, writer for Am Law Daily reports in his article "Greenberg Continues Unique Billing Arrangement with Alcoa" that experts expect revenues from alternative billing arrangements to increase for Am Law 200 firms over the next few years...

Cost Certainty Should Not Be Confused With Efficiency
    I read with interest a law.com story, New Approaches, New Firms on Corporate Clients'  Shopping Lists.  The story reports on recent findings from a BTI Consulting survey...

New Report on How Firms Can Retain Women
The Georgia Association for Women Lawyers released a report on retaining women attorneys entitled: IT'S ABOUT TIME II: Examining Flexible Work Arrangements from the Attorney's and the Firm's Perspectives -- A Study of Part-time Policies in Georgia Law Firms...

Insignia
26-Inch Flat-Panel LCD TVs Recalled

Whole Foods
And Other Firms Sued by California Attorney General,

Explicit E-Mail
Adult website fined $413,000 in explicit e-mail matter.

Sea Star Agrees $18.5M Settlement in Anti-trust Class Action
Sea Star Agrees $18.5M Settlement in Anti-trust Class Action

Atlas Cold Storage
Income Trust to pay $40 million to settle a class action that claims misrepresented financial statements.

Brown Greer et al.
alleging that the six law firms handling the Vioxx settlement failed to provide money for reimbursements to lien rights of Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) health plans.