- Your law firm has a better view from its office lobby than you do from your office lobby.
- More people come to your law firm's employee picnic than your company picnic.
- Your law firm's holiday party is more grand than your company's holiday party.
- Your law firm offers paid sabbaticals to its partners.
- Your law firm has a full time Director of Marketing on staff and you don't.
- Your law firm has more partners than you have employees.
- Your law firm has more offices than your company does.
- When you call your law firm with an issue that is non-standard for your main lawyer contact, he or she refers you to "my partner" or "my associate" who handles that kind of an issue.
- You are not spending your own money. You spend investor money.
- You do not have a part-time general counsel that hires and manages your company's outside law firm.
- Bonus - Your law firm's business model is to bill by the hour and to never offer guaranteed price quotes.
Add Comment I had lunch recently with a lawyer friend who works at a bill by the hour law firm. When the issue of hourly billing came up, we both agreed that it is difficult for clients to feel that they receive a good value for the legal work. Win or lose the case, and more often than not, clients dread the final bill because they have been frustrated with the legal bills all along. Shocking, but unfortunately not surprisingly, my colleague's law firm relies on a revenue model that they know does not deliver true value for their clients' legal spend. When the issue of alternative fee arrangements came up, my colleague agreed that what clients really want is to pay less for the same legal services. Thus, if firms adopt alternative fee arrangements, they will make less money. This is why many firms are reluctant to adopt alternative fee arrangements. However, why would clients allow any vendor--especially a professional services vendor--to charge more than the value the vendor delivered? It makes no sense, yet this is the norm far more often than it should be. If your bill by the hour attorney has not asked you if you believe their law firm provides a good return on your legal spend, raise the issue with your attorney. It's time to have a candid conversation on hourly fees and the return on your legal spend, and clients ought to push this issue with their law firms. Your attorney's answer may surprise you, and you might find that it is time to look for an attorney that embraces alternative fee arrangements. | ArchivesMarch 2012 CategoriesAll |
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