Variations of Hourly Billing:
Law firms structure hourly billing arrangements to take into account the marketing aspects of their charges by deviating from straight hourly rate charges.
Not exact matches
Formulas considering both origination and production must consider the particular
structure of the
law firm and the nature of its practice: For example, a
law firm specializing primarily in insurance defense litigation and operating at a much lower
hourly rate can readily afford the luxury of having highly compensated partners who merely originate business without having significant billable time.
Many
law firm business models are based on an
hourly billing
structure — a certain number of hours must be billed and collected each year to satisfy overhead and profits for partners.
As such, many
law firms can
structure billing arrangements that achieve larger marketing goals by playing with or deviating from straight
hourly rate charges.
The Barreau argues that
law firms using the
hourly billing method are not serving the interests of the partnership with clients, that the
firms should be doing a better job serving the interests of clients whether those interests lie in the efficiency of a fixed or flat - fee
structure, or the predictability of a fee that's conditional on outcome or duration.
In the simplest terms Alternative or Special Fee Arrangements are agreements between a
law firm and a client to provide compensation to the
firm based on a
structure other than
hourly billing.
In essence,
law firm networks can flourish by providing international legal services in a cost - efficient manner to small and medium sized enterprises through reduced overhead and simpler
structures, while international
law firms can provide a more integrated offering (including invoices covering multiple jurisdictions) but at a greater cost due to higher
hourly rates and more overhead which is less significant in only the largest international transactions and «bet the company» international litigation.
Following the lead of non-lawyer ILSPs,
law firms can also move away from traditional
hourly fee
structures and instead «unbundle» services, charging a flat fee for limited services or document production.
In conclusion, Molot argues that «[a] revised
structure would give all of a
firm's constituencies what they so badly crave: a
law firm focused on long - term, value - added relationships rather than
hourly fees and current billings.»
These lower
hourly rates for commodity type work will affect the
hourly rate
structure of mid-size
law firms competing for similar work.
Although the demise of the
hourly rate has been predicted for many years, this sort of arrangement could have a profound effect on the economics and
structure of a
law firm.