Last month, there was an excellent article in the New York Times about the imminent death of the billable hour at law firms.  It identified the common complaint of law firm clients that the practice of billable hours can encourage law firms to prolong a client’s problem rather than solve it in a timely and cost-effective manner.  This is certainly not a new complaint as the debate and discussion about billable hours has been going on for many years between in-house counsel but the debate gets more scrutiny during tough economic times even as hourly rates increase into the $500 to $800 range.

Companies of all sizes continue to seek more cost-effective ways to solving and dealing with their day-to-day legal issues.  The movement away from billable hours includes the payment of flat fees for handling transactions, success fees for positive results as well as other alternative billing arrangements.

As an example, our company charges a flat monthly fee for the services of our part-time general counsel services based upon the number days the attorney is on-site working in your offices and our clients have found this practice to be an extremely cost-effective way to manage their legal services by making their monthly legal expenses more predictable and controllable.  In the event you have the need to retain a law firm, you should negotiate with that firm for an alternative arrangement that fits your needs as well as the pending legal matter.