Late in 2009, while the U.S. economy was in the tank and cost control was the cry of the day, The American Lawyer and the Association of Corporate Counsel surveyed approximately 587 general counsel regarding their use of alternative fee arrangements. Some of the results appear in Lit. Mgt. Mag.,…
A proponent of alternative fee arrangements summarized six “major benefits” of AFAs, one of which set me on the path to this post. The author does not define AFA, but seems to assume everyone knows it as fixed fees for a volume of legal services, primarily litigation. He writes that…
Toward the end of 2009, American Lawyer and the Association of Corporate Counsel conducted a joint survey of approximately 587 general counsel regarding the use of alternative fee arrangements. Some of the findings are cited in Lit. Mgt. Mag., fall 2011 at 58. One out of four of the respondents…
A for/against feature in Lit. Mgt. Mag., fall 2011 at 52, presented one argument against fixed fees that is not often expressed. A claims manager for Merchants Insurance Group dislikes fixed fees for groups of matters because he wants to pay the right amount for each one: “Inherent in the…
I have used the term in my consulting projects for those matters that will NOT be included in the bundle of matters a firm agrees to handle on a fixed fee. So, for instance, class action lawsuits are carved out of the portfolios of litigation, or matters that involve Canadian…
In the view of Jordan Furlong 30 months ago, for three reasons general counsel balk at making major changes against law firms (See my post of Feb. 19, 2009: seven reasons why law departments do not take dramatic action.) General counsel are under-incentivized. This catch-all explanation adds nothing – the…
Reverse auctions, where law firms submit successively lower bids on a matter or group of matters, are far from taking over the retention world (See my post of Aug. 9, 2011: huge overstatement by Ariba employee.). Even so, at least four groups offer online capabilities to enable the process. ELawForum…
I heard about Procurelaw.com and looked at its website. For members they can use “Legal Panel Manager” to help control and monitor the flow of work with their panel firms; “Go to Market” lets them source the right firm by sending their RFPs to qualified firms. Here is the explanation…
A glimpse of the future: In-house lawyers and their internal clients can access a portal run by a law firm that gathers large amounts of relevant information about potential deals. To be more specific, consider the site that the U.S. law firm ParkerPoe has assembled regarding Caribbean resort sites. The…
Some law departments set guidelines for how many timekeepers they will permit to charge time to their matters. They want a core staff to account for most of the billings. De jure, the firm has to get permission to add more. De facto this requirement breaks down under pressure. This…