More and more often, attorneys are turning to fixed
fee billing arrangements for compensation of their services.
Our firm has been less successful at selling these arrangements, but have instead done better with fixed
fee billing arrangements.
Not exact matches
A full - scale utility -
bill audit requires the services of an expert, and you can hire consultants in either contingency or fixed -
fee arrangements.
The
bill also prohibits lawyers from having
arrangements to collect lucrative referral
fees from lenders, which encourage frivolous filings and prolong litigation that should've been settled sooner.
I can structure almost any kind of
fee arrangement agreeable both parties, but I have no hourly
billing rates.
Generally we focus our attention on the mechanics of common structures, such as volume based discounting, contingency
arrangements, flat
fee billing, success
fees or secondments.
That means using hourly
billing, flat
fees, contingent
fees, and hybrid
arrangements to suit each matter best.
If attorneys avail themselves of the advances in computer technology in the past decade or two, they can more easily come up with flat
fees or other alternative
billing arrangements — and continue to make a profit, Calloway says.
To ensure the cost - effective delivery of legal services, a lawyer in private practice needs to: (1) operate in a skilled and efficient manner; (2) keep accurate records of time and costs; (3) maintain communication with the client as the matter progresses; (4) inform the client is there is a need for change in the
arrangements concerning the scope of the work or
fees and expenses; (5)
bill clients monthly or quarterly, or as arranged, but promptly in accordance with the
arrangement; and (6) maintain an internal rate schedule justifiable to the consumer, and review it at least annually.
Therefore, they seek more alternative
fee arrangements, fixed / capped costs and creative
billing arrangements from their law firms.
Whether you
bill hourly or use alternative
fee arrangements, knowing how much work you're putting into a matter versus how much you think you should or want to put into it is critical.
Variations of hourly
billings, fixed
fee billing, contingent
fee arrangements and other forms of «alternative
billing» are no longer merely isolated experiences.
's clients can choose to utilize alternative
fee arrangements such as fixed costs, capped
fees and / or «value
billing» (or a mix of all three).
Fee arrangements other than hourly
billing have been around for a long time.
St. John firm Gilbert McGloan Gillis
billed more than $ 500,000 in
fees, disbursements and taxes between June and September for their work on a restructuring plan for the holdings of Hank Tepper under the Companies» Creditor
Arrangement Act.
While there are comparable gaps between importance and satisfaction for
fee arrangements (81 % vs 68 %) and
billing practices (81 % vs 68 %), value for money shows a much greater difference: 87 % of respondents regard value for money to be important, just 63 % are satisfied with their law firms» performance.
Another area where firms need to improve is with
fee arrangements and
billing practices, with satisfaction on both falling by 0.1 to 3.8 out of 5.
«We've been doing alternative
fee arrangements for over 20 years,» says managing partner William (
Bill) S. Chalmers.
Translated from Australian, that means the firm will avoid
billing by the hour and instead employ fixed -
fee and outcome - based
billing arrangements.
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.
Each section — Pricing Strategies, Alternative
Fee Arrangements,
Billing Rates — is summarized below:
Topics may include, for example, how to create a business plan, the key elements of an engagement letter, how to choose your niche, and how to decide between different
billing arrangements such as contingency
fees, hourly rates or flat
fees.
Contingent
fee (success related)
billing arrangements and other non-traditional
fee structures are commonplace, in appropriate circumstances.
Once profitability by matter can be calculated, profitability for many other sub-units — such as by client, practice area, type of work, type of
fee arrangement,
billing partner and supervising partner — can be calculated simply by aggregating profits for the matters comprising the relevant sub-unit.
Our reasonable costs, tailored, alternative approaches to
fees, and flexible
billing arrangements make our outstanding service very economical.
For example, matters can be associated with a practice area, type of work, type of
fee arrangement, client,
billing partner or supervising partner.
The general theme is this: hourly
billing frustrates clients; firms need to find new ways to add and show value — and the best way is through alternative
fee arrangements that clients are gravitating towards in droves.
Led by the Association of Corporate Counsel's «ACC Value Challenge,» corporate America is increasingly demanding that their outside law firms abandon the entrenched, historic, «cost - plus,» «billable hour» economic pricing model in favor of «Alternative
Fee Arrangements» («AFAs») and other «value billing» approaches (e.g., non-hourly pricing arrangements such as «fixed fee,» «contingency,» or «hybrid» fee arrangement
Fee Arrangements» («AFAs») and other «value billing» approaches (e.g., non-hourly pricing arrangements such as «fixed fee,» «contingency,» or «hybrid» fee ar
Arrangements» («AFAs») and other «value
billing» approaches (e.g., non-hourly pricing
arrangements such as «fixed fee,» «contingency,» or «hybrid» fee ar
arrangements such as «fixed
fee,» «contingency,» or «hybrid» fee arrangement
fee,» «contingency,» or «hybrid»
fee arrangement
fee arrangementsarrangements).
Another area where technology could prove useful is in platforms that could more easily accommodate value - based
fee arrangements as opposed to hourly
billing.
You can use customized
fee arrangements,
billing schedules, and more.
On alternative
fees: Clients, not firms, have been the greater barrier to adoption of alternative
billing arrangements, panelists suggested.
«We will also be organizing a conference about solutions, about how can we
bill our clients differently, how we can share the risk, how we can increase predictability... and bring tools for lawyers to be able to evaluate fixed -
fee arrangements.»
Moreover, as law firms move toward alternative and fixed -
fee arrangements, they're far more likely to use paralegals, whose rates are tied to the fixed
fee and not
billed hourly.
And a lot of the issues that are driving the necessity of this new strategic outlook, or positioning, may be new technology, alternative
billing arrangements, the
fee structure, obviously, the generational mix... diversity, etc..»
she asked, referencing the revolution around value - based
billing, alternative
fee arrangements, and disaggregation of legal services.
It's a natural reaction for lawyers and law firms to resist it because they would like to retain the hourly
billing at a non-budgeted amount, but there are lawyers and firms that actually come to the table and offer the alternative
fee arrangement — it could be a cap on certain things, or a volume discount.
Respondents were asked to rate the importance of — and their satisfaction with — 12 criteria covering all aspects of legal advice provision, including commercial acumen,
billing,
fee arrangements, relationships, teamwork and innovation.
Even if you ditch the billable hour, you still have to
bill your clients for your work (either through flat
fees or some other hybrid
arrangement).
Over the 12 - month period ending December 31, 2015, 9.4 percent of matters submitted and processed via the CounselLink solution were invoiced, at least in part, under a
fee arrangement other than traditional hourly
billing.
Fixed -
fee billing: Under the fixed -
fee arrangement the firm and the client agree upon the
fees to be paid for all of a client's work, or all of a client's work in a particular practice area, or for particular elements or tasks, or for various phases of work.
«None of this work will be
billed at hourly rates but rather will be competitively priced through fixed -
fee arrangements that will vary depending on our clients» requirements.»
Key Metric # 3: Alternative
Fee Arrangement (AFA) Usage AFAs used in 9.4 % of matters and 7.0 % of
billings in the past year 3b Based on trailing 12 - months ending December 31, 2015
Variations of hourly
billings, fixed -
fee billing, contingent
fee arrangements and other forms of «alternative
billing» are no longer merely isolated experiences.
Chrometa — Even with the trend towards flat
fees and other alternative
billing arrangements, the billable hour is not dead yet.
92 % of the responding firms was using non-hourly
billing arrangements, with half reporting an increase in
fees generated from these
arrangements as a percentage of total revenue for 2013.
In addition to our standard hourly
billing, we offer flat
fees, blended rates, partial contingency
arrangements and capped
fees.
Our new recurring
billing feature is perfect for attorneys offering alternative
fee arrangements.
A majority, 71 per cent, use non-hourly
billing or alternative
fee arrangements primarily to be proactive to remain competitive.
But now, tired of subsidizing law firm gravy trains, large corporate clients are forcing firms to offer alternative
billing arrangements, such as flat
fees, volume discounts and banning new associates from working on matters.
The Canada Revenue Agency, in an update to its website on April 28, stated that the elimination of
billed - basis accounting is not expected to affect contingency
fee arrangements, where the terms and conditions of such
arrangements are bona fide.