In a previous post I discussed retroactive discounts based on dollar volume of billings (See my post of Aug. 8, 2006.) Given a sufficient number of cases a law firm might be asked to handle on a tiered-rate basis, the client and the firm might develop a taxonomy, a way…
With more than a dollop of cynicism and an appreciation for irony, consider how law firms are from Mercury and law departments from Pluto: Alternative billing means premiums to firms, cost-saving to departments Associates are profit centers to firms, low-value bill-boosters to departments Budgets are floors to firms, ceilings to…
I am already on record in opposition to outside counsel guidelines, on the grounds that they have not been proven effective (See my post of Aug. 1, 2006.). Not that I would recommend law departments to discard them entirely, but that they should keep the guidelines basic and not have…
Newsworthy these days are the gargantuan efforts by large law departments to spray RFPs to dozens of law firms. The widely cast net aims at many of the incumbent firms of the law department and pulls in some new firms. The logistics, administrative efforts, time, and cost match the expansive…
Law departments overlook a fundamental inequity when they compare proposals from law firms on their discounts from standard rates. The unfairness is that lower cost firms cut disproportionately more, or have smaller margins, when they grant the same percentage discount as does a big city firm that starts out with…
Many law departments review law firm proposals to grant increasing, step-wise reductions in rates. Give us more work and we will agree deeper cuts. For example, if the actual hours of work by the firm during a year multiplied by the firm’s rates amounts to $3 million plus, the firm’s…
I have written about the arbitrage opportunities for multi-office law firms (See my post of June 15, 2006 on the use of associates from lower-cost cities.). In a proposal, rather than state discounts from rates, an aggressive and confident law firm might commit to billing rates by year out of…
During a consulting project over a decade ago, I prepared a compendious resource book. It contained a wealth of aids to help inside counsel know when to retain outside counsel and what tools to select to best manage them. I have not seen other examples of such a compilation, but…
We all know the litany from the classic guidelines for outside counsel. They lay down like tablets from on high a department’s expectations for ethical and effective staffing, billing, reporting, and management of matters handled by outside counsel. What none of us know is whether those guidelines have effect. No…
A partner who by experience and personality litigates adroitly may not be equally adept at settlement discussions. If not, a law department might consider parallel tracks: the one partner campaigns like Sherman on the judicial field while a partner at another firm negotiates like Kissinger to reach a resolution that…