Alternative Fee Arrangements are all the rage these days, and the hourly billing models is getting lost of bad press, but this is nothing new. According to the 2002 ABA Commission on Hourly Billable Report, “the overreliance on billable hours by the legal profession:
- results in a decline of the collegiality of law firm
- culture and an increase in associate departures
- discourages taking on pro bono work
- does not encourage project or case planning
- provides no predictability of cost for client
- may not reflect value to the client
- penalizes the efficient and productive lawyer
- discourages communication between lawyer and client
- encourages skipping steps
- fails to discourage excessive layering and duplication of effort
- fails to promote a risk/benefit analysis
- does not reward the lawyer for productive use of technology
- puts client’s interests in conflict with lawyer’s interests
- client runs the risk of paying for: – the lawyer’s incompetency or inefficiency; — associate training; — associate turnover
- padding of timesheets
- results in itemized bills that tend to report mechanical functions, not value of progress
- results in lawyers competing based on hourly rates[.]“
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