On the flip side, law firms can create efficiencies by working with several companies on targeted legal matters, increasing earning potential even
with flat fee arrangements.
For example, in my solo practice I try to offer my clients the certainty
of flat fee arrangements, but even with flat fees I still need to determine how much to charge for a project.
The court's decision thus neutralizes many of the benefits of the fixed fee, including administrative ease and shared risk (presumably, if one of the trigger events for withdrawal of the fee does not occur, the lawyer must refund the fee, which is not the case with a
standard flat fee arrangement).
Fee - only means assets under management or
flat fee arrangement, and it does not mean the person receives a sales commission for working with you.
Alternately, introducing
a flat fee arrangement can force firms to become more efficient and adopt technology in their practices in order to meet their revenue goals.
Many said they were using a combination of billable hours, RFPs, and
flat fee arrangements.
While not a retainer, moving from an hourly to
a flat fee arrangement will allow a lawyer to take in money upfront, with the potential to avoid trust accounting requirements as well.
Any new solo has to determine whether to go with the billable hour,
a flat fee arrangement, or other alternative fee structures.
Unlike virtually every other major law firm operating in this sector, we are willing to consider alternative fee structures, including contingency, success fee and
flat fee arrangements, whenever we believe they would be mutually beneficial for us and our clients.
Flat fee arrangements are based on a number of determining factors, including the complexity of the legal issue, time investment (including any research and / or contract drafting, the extent of involvement of other parties (such as negotiations) and how well - organized the client is, including the level of tech savvy.
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.»
First, there are many self - employed young lawyers out in the market, many of whom are using sliding scale and
flat fee arrangements.
Through this experiment, we'll be able to test, for example, the efficacy of law firm panels, consolidated legal spend, and
flat fee arrangements.
We all seem to be moving toward value billing — but does
a flat fee arrangement impact service quality or the level of talent assigned to the work?
The flat fee arrangement takes the uncertainty of legal costs out of the equation.
Followed by a statement from Arthur Klebanoff, chief executive of RosettaBooks LLC, on the value of making titles available via
a flat fee arrangement:
We have moved to
a flat fee arrangement for our collaborative cases, meaning that the amount of work you do will have no impact on your case.